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Augustine  of  Canterbury 


EDWAED  L.  CUTTS,  D.D. 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN    AND    COMPANY 

1895 


CONTENTS 


FORUM 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 
PEDIGREE   OF   THE   KINGS   OF   KENT 
PEDIGREE   OP  THE   FRANK   KINGS   . 
TABLE   OF   BISHOPS^ 
I.    THE   ROME   OF   GREGORY  THE  GREAT 
II.   GREGORY  THE  GREAT     . 

III.  THE  YORKSHIRE  BOYS  IN  THE  ROMAN 

IV.  THE  DEPARTURE   OF  THE   MISSION 
V.   AT  MARSEILLES      . 

VI.    THE  JOURNEY  THROUGH   FRANCE 
VII.    ENGLAND   IN   596   A.D.  . 
VIII.   THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  MISSION 
IX.   THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  WORK 

X.  Gregory's  instructions 

XI.   establishment  of  the  CHURCH  IN  CANTERBURY 
XII.   THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  SECOND   BODY  OF  MISSIONERS 

XIII.    THE  HISTORY   OF   THE   PALL 

XIT.    GRBQORY's  LETTERS,  TO   AUGUSTINE  ON   HIS   MIRACLES, 
AND  TO  ETHELBERT         


PAGE 

vii 

X 

xi 
xii 
1 
7 
15 
21 
26 
33 
42 
50 
57 
66 
76 
86 
94 

101 


VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 
XV. 


XVI. 
XVII. 

XVIII. 
XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 

XXV. 
XXVI. 


ETKK 


THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    THE    LIBEAKY  OF    THE    ENGLISH 
CHITECH 

THE  OLD  TEMPLES  AND  CHTJECHES 

THE    FOUNDATION    OF    THE    MONASTERY    OF    SS, 
AND  PAUL        

THE   NEGOTIATION   WITH   THE   BRITISH   CHURCH 

THE    ENDEAVOUR    TO    EXTEND    THE    CHURCH    TO    THE 
OTHER  ENGLISH   KINGDOMS      . 

THE  EPISCOPACY  OF  LAUEENTIUS 

THE  DEATH  OF  ETHELBERT  ;    THE  APOSTASY 

THE   MISSION   TO   NORTHUMBRIA     . 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA. 

THE  EPISCOPATE  OF  HONOEIUS      . 

THE   KENTISH   MONASTERIES 

ARCHBISHOP  THEODORE  .... 

INDEX    


107 
111 

117 
126 

147 
152 
157 
161 
168 
184 
187 
196 
205 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 


In  drawing  up  a  Chronological  Table  for  the  reader's  convenience, 
it  is  necessary  to  say  that  only  some  of  the  dates  are  certainly 
fixed,  but  these  occur  at  intervals  which  form  a  skeleton  table 
into  which  the  other  dates  can  be  intercalated  without  fear  of 
any  considerable  error. 

The  History  of  St.  Augustine's  Monastery ,  by  William  Thorn, 
a  monk  of  that  house  in  1397,  gives  the  following  dates : — 
Augustine  sent  to  England,  596 ;  Baptism  of  Ethelbert,  Pente- 
cost, 597  ;  Augustine  consecrated,  16th  November  597  ;  Received 
the  Pall,  601 ;  Augustine  died,  26th  May  605 ;  Ethelbert  and 
Bertha  kept  Christmas  at  St.  Augustine's,  605  ;  Abbot  Peter  died, 
607  ;  Laurentius  consecrated  the  Abbey  Church,  613  ;  and  died, 
614 ;  Ethelbert  died,  616 ;  Justus  died,  635  ;  Honorius  died, 
643  ;  Deusdedit  died,  664  ;  Theodore  appointed  to  the  bishopric, 
670. 

Thomas  of  Elniham,  a  monk  of  the  same  house,  in  1412,  pre- 
fixed an  elaborate  Chronologia  Augustinensis  to  his  History  of 
the  Monastery,  from  which  the  following  dates  are  taken : — 
Arrival  of  Augustine,  Baptism  of  Ethelbert,  Foundation  of  the 
Monastery,  all  in  597  ;  Peter  made  Abbot,  598  ;  Pall  sent,  603  ; 
Mellitus  and  Justus  consecrated,  604  ;  Death  of  Augustine,  26th 
May  605  ;  Dedication  of  the  Church  by  Laurence,  613  ;  Death  of 
Laurence,  619  ;  Death  of  Mellitus,  625  ;  Edwin  of  Northumbria 
baptized,  627  ;  Death  of  Justus,  635  ;  Death  of  Honorius,  663  ; 
Vacancy  of  eighteen  months  ;  Deusdedit  elected,  655  ;  Deusdedit 


viii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 

died,   664 ;  Vacancy ;    Theodore  consecrated,   668 ;    arrive?  in 
England,  May  27,  669. 


A.D. 

586  or  587.  Gregory  undertakes  a  mission  to  England,  and  is 

recalled. 
590.  Gregory  made  Bishop  of  Bx)me. 

596.  Augustine  leaves  Rome  for  Britain  in  the  spring  ;  leaves 

the  second  time,  July  23rd. 

597.  Augustine  consecrated  Bishop  in  autumn. 

597.  Baptism  of  the  ten  thousand  at  Christmas. 

598.  Laurence  and  Peter  sent  to  Rome  and  return. 
598.?  Baptism  of  Ethelbert  on  Whitsunday. 

601.  Arrival  from  Rome  of  Abbot  Mellitus  and  his  company. 

601.  The  Pall  sent  to  Augustine. 

603.?  The  Synod  at  Augustine's  Oak. 

604.  Mellitus  consecrated  Bishop  of  East  Saxons,  and  Justus  of 

Rochester. 
604.  Laurence  consecrated  before  April. 
604.  Death  of  Gregory,  12th  March. 
605.?  Augustine  died.  May  26th  ;  Laurence  succeeded. 
613.  Monastery  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  consecrated. 

616.  Ethelbert  died  ;  succeeded  by  Eadbald. 

617.  Flight  of  Mellitus  and  Justus  to  France. 

618.  Return  of  Mellitus  and  Justus. 

619.?  Laurence  died,  succeeded  by  Mellitus. 

624.  Mellitus  dies,  April  24th,  succeeded  by  Justus. 

625.  Paulinus  consecrated,  July  21st,  for  Northumbria. 
627.  Justus  dies,  succeeded  after  an  interval  by  Honorius. 

630.  Monastery  of  Dover  founded  ;  Conversion  of  East  Anglia 

by  Bishop  Felix. 
633.  Defeat  and  death  of  Edwin,  King  of  Northumbria  ;  return 

to  Kent  of  Ethelburga  and  Paulinus. 
633.  Double  monasteries  of  Folkestone  and  Lyminge  founded. 
635.  Conversion  of  the  "West  Saxons  by  Bishop  Birinus. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  ix 

A.D. 

640.  Eadbald  dies,  succeeded  by  Earconberht. 

644.  Paulinus  dies  at  Rocbester,  succeeded  by  Itbamar. 

653.  Conversion  of  tbe  East  Saxons  by  Cedd. 

653.  Honorius  dies  ;  an  interval  of  eighteen  montbs. 

655.  Deusdedit  consecrated. 

664.  King  Earconbert  and  Bishop  Deusdedit  died  the  same  day, 

July  14th  ;  the  former  succeeded  by  Egbert ;  a  vacancy  in 

the  see. 
666.?  Wigheard  sent  to  Rome  and  dies  there. 

668.  Theodore  of  Tarsus  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

669.  The  King  gave  Reculver  to  Bass  the  priest  to  build  a 

minster  there. 


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AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

CHAPTEE    I 

The  Eome  of  Gregory  the  Great 

The  Eome  of  Gregory  the  Great  was  no  longer  the 
powerful  and  splendid  city  of  the  early  Emperors  with 
which  we  are  most  familiar.  It  had  long  since  ceased 
to  be  the  capital  of  the  Empii-e.  From  the  death  of 
Gallienus  (a.d.  260),  with  the  short  interval  of  seven 
years  of  the  reigns  of  Tacitus  and  Probus  (275—282 
A.D.),  the  Emperors  had  practically  ceased  to  reside  in 
Eome  ;  the  defence  of  the  Empire  from  the  Barbarians 
required  their  presence  nearer  the  frontiers,  at  the 
centre  of  military  operations  ;  and  the  camp  was  also 
the  court  and  the  centre  of  political  administration. 

When  Diocletian  divided  and  reorganised  the  Empire, 
he  foimded  an  Eastern  capital  at  Mcomedia,  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Propontis,  which  Constantine 
removed  to  Constantinople  on  the  western  shore  of 
the  Bosphorus.  Milan  was  chosen  as  the  capital  of 
the  Western  Augustus.  Both,  with  the  concourse  of 
people  which  public  affairs  and  private  interests  and 


2  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

pleasures  attract  to  a  capital,  grew  into  great  cities, 
and  were  adorned  with  such  splendid  public  buildings 
as  became  the  dignity  of  the  Empire. 

While  a  new  nobility,  of  the  great  officers  of  the 
army  and  of  the  household  and  of  the  provincial 
governors,  was  growing  up  at  the  new  capitals,  the 
great  nobles  of  old  Eome  held  themselves  aloof  from 
the  courts  of  the  imperial  adventurers,  and  kept  up  the 
splendour  and  luxury  of  the  ancient  city  out  of  the 
revenues  of  the  vast  estates  acquired  by  their  ancestors 
in  all  parts  of  the  world  which  Eoman  arms  had 
subdued. 

This  splendid  luxury  was  rudely  interrupted.  Alaric 
with  his  Goths  appeared  before  the  gates  of  the 
city  in  409  a.d.,  and  was  bought  off  with  a  great 
ransom.  But  he  came  again  the  following  year  and 
gave  up  the  city  to  sack  and  plunder. 

It  was  the  nobles  who  suffered  most ;  their  wealth 
was  the  great  prize  at  which  the  Barbarians  aimed ; 
their  palaces  were  the  first  objects  of  the  pillagers. 
Who  shall  tell  the  fate  of  a  proud,  luxurious  aristo- 
cracy amidst  the  brutal  horrors  of  a  city  given  up  to 
sack  and  pillage  by  a  horde  of  Barbarians.  Many 
were  put  to  the  sword ;  some  were  tortured  to  make 
them  reveal  the  supposed  hiding  -  place  of  their 
treasures ;  some  disappeared  imder  the  rums  of  their 
burnt  palaces  ;  some  escaped  to  Africa  and  elsewhere ; 
some  perished  under  the  hardships  of  their  flight. 
Eome  was  left  half  consumed  by  fire  and  half  de- 
populated. Its  fate  excited  the  horror  and  amazement 
of  the  civilised  world.  Half  a  century  (455  A.D.) 
later,  the  Vandals  under  Genseric  completed  the 
plunder  of   the  city.    "The   pillage    lasted    fourteen 


THE  ROME  OF  GREGORY  THE  GREAT     3 

days  and  nights ;  all  that  yet  remained  of  public  or 
private  wealth,  of  sacred  or  profane  treasure,"  down 
to  the  bronze  of  the  statues  and  the  furniture  of 
brass  and  copper,  was  carried  away  in  the  ships  of 
the  African  conqueror.  And  yet  a  third  time  the 
soldiers  of  Eicimer,  in  472  A.D.,  forced  their  way 
into  the  city,  and  indulged  in  unrestrained  rapine  and 
licence,  in  which  the  mob  and  the  slaves  of  the  city 
joined  them.  Eome  thus  ruined,  fell  into  the  con- 
dition of  a  place  of  second-rate  importance. 

When  Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth  made  himself  master 
of  Italy,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Eavenna;  but 
he  visited  Eome,  was  filled  with  admiration  of  the 
grandeur  of  its  ancient  monuments,  and  took  pains 
to  encourage  its  returning  prosperity.  After  sixty 
years  of  subjection  to  the  Gothic  yoke,  Belisarius 
rescued  it  (536  a.d.),  and  added  it  to  the  dominions 
of  the  Eastern  Emperor. 

Then  came  the  invasion  of  the  Lombards,  who 
occupied  the  north,  the  south,  and  scattered  portions 
of  the  middle  of  the  country ;  leaving  to  the  Eastern 
Emperor  a  tract  of  country  between  the  Adriatic  and 
the  Apennines  around  Eavenna,  and  the  three  sub- 
ordinate provinces  of  Eome,  Venice,  and  Naples, 
isolated  amidst  the  Lombard  conquests,  under  the  rule 
of  the  Exarch  of  Eavenna.  During  two  hundred  years 
this  division  continued  under  eighteen  successive 
Exarchs.  It  was  not  till  755  A.D.  that  King  Pepin 
gave  his  Lombard  conquests  of  that  year  to  the  See 
of  St.  Peter,  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  the  Prankish 
kingdom ;  and  not  till  the  disruption  of  the  Caro- 
lingian  Empire,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth 
century,  that  the  Pope,  together   with  other    feuda- 


4  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

tories,  was  able  to  hold  his  dominions  as  an  inde- 
pendent prince.  Our  present  concern  is  with  Eome 
at  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  when  it  was  still 
part  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 

The  Eoman  province  extended  along  the  coast  from 
Civita  Vecchia  to  Terracina,  and  inland  to  Ameria 
and  Narni.  During  the  period  which  we  have  reached 
— the  close  of  the  sixth  century — the  Duchy  of  Eome 
was  in  this  condition :  it  was  a  dependency  of  the 
Exarchate  of  Eavenna,  isolated  amidst  the  Lombard 
conquests ;  ruled  by  the  Exarch  and  his  representa- 
tive in  Eome,  but  left  to  defend  itself  by  its  own 
diplomacy  and  force,  in  face  of  the  hostile  attitude 
of  the  Lombard  Duke  of  Beneventum  on  the  south. 
In  570-582,  the  clergy  and  Senate  collected  the 
remains  of  their  ancient  opulence,  and  sent  an  embassy 
to  the  Emperor  Tiberius  ii.,  asking  aid,  and  offering 
three  thousand  pounds  of  gold  as  their  contribution 
to  the  cost  of  the  expedition.  The  Emperor  declared 
his  inability  to  help  them,  and  returned  the  money, 
advising  the  Eomans  either  to  buy  peace  from  the 
Lombards  with  it,  or  to  spend  it  in  hiring  the  aid 
of  the  Franks.  Eome  had  reached  the  lowest  point 
of  its  depression.  The  influx  of  wealth  from  the 
revenues  of  the  provinces  had  ceased ;  strangers  no 
longer  resorted  to  it  for  business  or  curiosity;  large 
parts  of  the  city  were  in  ruins ;  the  Campagna  was 
falling  into  the  condition  of  an  unwholesome  waste, 
from  which  it  has  never  recovered.  So  great  were 
the  miseries  of  the  time,  as  to  produce  in  many 
minds  the  belief  that  the  end  of  the  world  was 
at  hand. 

The  Church  of  Eome  had  shared  in  the  misfortunes 


THE  HOME  OF  GREGORY  THE  GREAT     5 

of  the  city.  Tn  the  previous  centuries,  the  See,  en- 
dowed by  the  piety  of  wealthy  devotees  with  estates 
in  Italy  and  the  provinces,  and  further  enriched  by 
continual  offerings,  was  very  wealthy.  The  legal 
recognition  accorded  by  the  Christian  Emperors  to 
the  arbitration  of  bishops  between  disputants,  and 
the  deference  paid  to  their  intercession  on  behalf 
of  accused  persons,  had  placed  the  bishop  virtually 
among  the  chief  magistrates  of  the  city ;  and  the 
magistracy  of  Eome  maintained  some  of  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  ancient  Senate;  the  position  of  the 
Bishop  of  Eome  had  therefore  been  one  of  great 
wealth,  dignity,  and  influence. 

But  the  overthrow  of  the  Empire  and  the  ruin  of 
Eome  had  dried  up  the  chief  sources  of  the  wealth  of 
the  See,  and,  under  the  rule  of  Ostrogothic  Kings  and 
Eastern  Emperors,  it  had  lost  much  of  its  prestige. 
Both  rulers  had  maintained  the  right  of  intervention  in 
the  appointment  of  bishops,  and  both  had  treated  the 
bishops  as  their  subjects.  Theodoric  had  sent  Bishop 
John  to  Constantinople,  as  his  ambassador,  to  obtain 
for  the  Arians  in  the  East  that  toleration  which  the 
Arians  gave  to  the  Orthodox  in  the  West,  and  on  his 
return  had  cast  him  into  prison  for  the  partial  failure 
of  his  mission,  where  he  shortly  died  (536  A.D.). 
Theodahat  had  sent  Bishop  Agapetus,  as  his  am- 
bassador, to  avert  a  threatened  attack.  When 
Belisarius  had  conquered  the  city,  he,  or  rather  his 
wife  Antonina,  had  summoned  Bishop  Sylverius  to 
her  chamber,  rated  him  for  treasonable  correspondence 
with  the  besieging  Goths,  sent  him  off  by  sea  to 
the  East,  and  caused  Vigilius  to  be  elected  in  his 
place.     Vigilius  (545   a.d.)  had   been   summoned  to 


6  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

court  by  Justinian  to  give  an  account  of  himself,  and 
had  been  detained  there  seven  years,  and  died  on  his 
way  homeward.  The  vacillation  of  Vigilius  on  the 
great  theological  dispute  of  the  time  had  even  sullied 
the  reputation  of  the  See  for  its  soundness  in  the 
faith,  and  diminished  its  spiritual  authority.  In  the 
time  of  his  successor  Pelagius,  the  rest  of  the  Italian 
bishops  withdrew  from  communion  with  Eome,  and 
the  province  of  Aquileia  maintained  its  excommuni- 
cation of  Eome  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half. 
This  was  the  Eome  of  Gregory  the  Great,  and  the 
scene  of  the  opening  of  the  present  history. 


CHAPTEE  II 

Gregoky  the  Gkeat 

Gregory  the  Great  (Anicius  Gregorius)  is  said  to 
have  descended  from  the  Anician  family.  His  grand- 
father was  Bishop  Felix  iii. ;  his  father,  Gordian,  was 
the  noblest  of  the  Senate ;  his  mother,  Sylvia,  illus- 
trious for  her  piety,  retired  to  a  convent  on  her 
husband's  death.  Gregory  entered  into  civil  life,  and 
attained  the  highest  municipal  office  of  prefect  of  the 
city.  But  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  (about  575  a.d.) 
he  fell  under  the  influence  of  the  prevalent  ascetic 
enthusiasm,  and  entered  what  was  technically  called 
the  "religious"  life.  He  converted  the  house  of  his 
family  on  the  Csehan  Hill  into  a  monastery  dedicated 
to  St.  Andrew,  and  devoted  the  remainder  of  his 
patrimony  to  the  founding  of  six  monasteries  in  Sicily. 
Whether  he  adopted  the  rule  which  St.  Benedict  had 
drawn  up  for  his  monks  fifty  years  before,  is  not  stated 
by  the  contemporary  authorities,  and  is  disputed  by 
the  modern  historians.  Gregory  was  a  great  admirer 
of  Benedict,  and  wrote  his  biography;  but  he  was 
a  man  of  so  much  originahty  of  genius  and  self- 
reliance,  so  much  in  the  habit  of  seeking  to  improve 
what  he  touched,  that  while  he  could  hardly  help 
taking  the  rule  of  Benedict  in  its  broad  outlines  as  a 
wise  adaptation,  on  the  whole,  of  the  Eastern  rule  to 


8  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Western  conditions,  he  would  be  very  likely  to  modify 
it  at  his  own  discretion.  It  is  a  point  of  some 
importance,  since  Augustine,  who  was  a  man  of 
routine,  would  be  sure  to  introduce  the  rule  of  St. 
Andrew's  of  the  Cselian  Hill  into  the  monasteries  of 
Kent.  It  may  be  noted  here  that  when  Benedict 
Biscop  founded  his  Northumbrian  monasteries  at 
Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  he  did  not  adopt  the  Bene- 
dictine rule  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  gave  them  an 
eclectic  rule  based  upon  his  study  of  the  most  famous 
monasteries  of  Italy  and  Gaul. 

The  position  and  talents  of  Gregory  were  enough 
to  ensure  him  an  eminent  position  in  the  Church,  as 
formerly  in  the  civil  service  of  his  native  city.  It 
was  the  custom  of  the  time  for  the  great  Patriarchs  to 
maintain  an  agent  {Apocrisiarius)  at  the  court  of 
the  Emperor,  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  their 
churches,  and  to  transact  the  business  frequently 
arising.  Pelagius  ii.  sent  Gregory  in  578  or  579  to 
Constantinople  in  this  capacity,  Tiberius  ii.  being 
Emperor;  and  here  he  must  have  acquired,  during  the 
six  years  of  his  residence,  a  skill  in  diplomacy  and  a 
knowledge  of  men  and  affairs  which  would  be  useful 
in  the  political  difficulties  with  which  it  was  after- 
wards his  lot  to  deal. 

It  is  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  of  our 
history,  to  consider  carefully  the  position  of  the 
Bishops  of  Italy  and  Gaul  at  this  period.  The  early 
Christians,  acting  upon  the  precept  of  St.  Paul  not  to 
go  to  law  with  one  another  before  the  heathen  courts 
(1  Cor.  vi.  1-6),  had  made  a  practice  of  referring 
their  disputes  to  the  arbitration  of  their  bishops. 
The  Christian  Emperors  had  recognised  the  custom. 


GREGORY  THE  GREAT  9 

and  given  legal  force  to  the  episcopal  decisions.  This 
had  the  effect  of  giving  the  bishops  jurisdiction,  and 
putting  them  among  the  chief  magistrates  of  their 
cities.  From  a  complaint  of  St.  Augustine  of  Hippo, 
we  learn  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  time  of  a 
bishop  of  that  period  was  taken  up  with  the  fulfilment 
of  these  judicial  functions.  Again,  the  bishops  exer- 
cised an  independent  but  considerable  influence  over 
the  ordinary  action  of  the  law.  It  was  something 
like  the  devolution  upon  the  bishops  of  the  power 
which  the  tribunes  of  the  people  possessed  in  earlier 
times,  to  interpose  between  the  people  and  the  ordi- 
nary magistrates.  The  opinion  of  the  time  deemed  it 
a  proper  exercise  of  the  sacred  function  of  a  bishop  to 
interpose  on  behalf  of  one  whom  he  thought  oppressed, 
and  even  to  intervene  on  behalf  of  those  who  had 
been  justly  condemned,  on  the  ground  of  their  repent- 
ance. The  bishop's  house  had  the  privilege  of  sanc- 
tuary, no  one  who  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  footing 
within  its  precincts  could  be  arrested  there ;  and  even 
the  bishop's  person  had  the  same  privilege,  a  man  who 
could  lay  hold  of  the  bishop,  even  of  the  hem  of  his 
robe,  was  under  this  inviolable  protection,  and  free 
from  immediate  molestation. 

In  the  disruption  of  the  Western  Empire,  the  fate  of 
the  churches  in  those  parts  of  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
where  the  Goths  and  Franks  won  permanent  settle- 
ments, was  very  different  from  the  destruction  with 
which  the  ruder  tribes  of  Angles  and  Saxons  over- 
whelmed the  churches  of  the  deserted  province  of 
Britain.  There  the  conquerors  settled  in  the  fertile 
lands,  and  readily  made  terms  with  the  cities,  leaving 
them   to   continue   their  life  under   their  own  laws. 


10  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

administered  by  their  own  municipal  magistrates.  In 
the  old  times  the  Emperor  had  an  official  in  each 
city  to  receive  the  imperial  tribute  and  watch  over 
the  imperial  interests ;  the  Frank  and  Gothic  kings 
replaced  the  Eoman  official  by  a  Frank  or  Gothic 
count,  who  possessed  the  same  powers,  but  naturally 
far  less  influence.  Each  city,  therefore,  with  the  sur- 
rounding territory — sometimes  very  extensive — which 
belonged  to  it,  continued  its  civil  and  church  life  as  a 
little  self-governing  republic. 

In  this  civil  and  church  life  the  bishop  was  the 
most  wealthy,  powerful,  and  influential  person.  The 
weight  of  his  official  position  was  frequently  en- 
hanced by  personal  circumstances.  It  was  the  custom 
for  the  churches  to  choose  for  their  bishop  some 
neighbouring  person  of  distinction.  A  man  of  noble 
family  and  wealth,  who  had  held  high  civil  office, 
was  the  kind  of  man  who  seemed  to  them  best  fitted 
to  occupy  the  highest  place  in  the  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical government  of  the  city,  to  protect  them  from 
abuse  of  his  office  on  the  part  of  the  Eoman  prefect 
or  the  Teutonic  count,  and  to  plead  the  cause  of  the 
city  or  of  individual  citizens,  when  occasion  required, 
before  the  Emperor  or  King.  Moreover,  it  was  the 
custom  for  a  bishop  to  spend  his  revenues  upon  the 
people,  and  to  make  large  donations  or  bequests  to 
his  See,  so  that  the  interests  of  the  people  in  many 
ways  were  engaged  in  the  choice  of  the  greatest  of 
their  neighbours  for  bishop,  if  his  character  were 
otherwise  such  as  to  qualify  him  for  the  highest 
ministry  of  the  Church.  Again,  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  time  for  the  person  chosen  as  bishop  to  profess  a 
sense  of  utter  unworthiness  for  the  office,  and  to  make 


GREGORY  THE  GREAT  11 

a  vehement  resistance.  This  was  met  by  a  corre- 
sponding urgency  ;  the  more  unwilling  a  man  was,  the 
better  fitted  he  thereby  proved  himself  to  be.  If  he 
hid  himself  they  sought  him  out,  if  he  fled  they 
fetched  him  back ;  the  matter  sometimes  went  so  far 
that  the  man  chosen  by  the  Church  was  consecrated 
by  a  gentle  force  in  spite  of  his  protestations.  On 
the  whole,  it  was  thought  that  the  Church  had  a  right 
to  the  services  of  the  man  upon  whom  the  choice  of 
the  city  fell ;  and  when  his  resistance  had  sufficiently 
tested  the  reality  and  unanimity  of  the  choice,  the 
man  felt  it  a  duty  to  accept  the  office.  Thus  every 
great  city  in  Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain  at  this  period  was 
virtually  a  republic,  and  the  bishop  was,  by  his  office, 
wealth,  and  influence,  the  greatest  man  in  it. 

The  position  of  the  Bishop  of  Eome  at  this  time 
was  essentially  the  same  as  in  the  other  cities,  and 
had  grown  up  in  the  same  way ;  only  Eome,  though 
half  ruined  and  half  depopulated,  was  still  greater 
than  the  other  cities,  and  the  bishop's  position  was 
proportionately  grander.  Moreover,  the  Bishop  of 
Eome  was  a  Patriarch  of  the  Church,  with  relations 
with  the  other  Patriarchs ;  he  was  the  principal 
Metropolitan  of  Italy,  and  claimed  a  certain  amount 
of  authority  over  its  bishops ;  he  had  influence  in 
Gaul,  and  was  beginning  to  assert  a  novel  authority 
over  its  churches.  These  details  will  help  us  further 
to  understand  generally  the  Church  life  of  the  time  of 
Gregory  with  which  we  are  dealing,  and  particularly 
the  next  passage  in  the  history. 

When,  on  the  death  of  Pelagius  ii.  in  590  A.D.,  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  clergy,  Senate,  and  people  of 
Eome    nominated    Gregory    as    Bishop,  he    protested 


12  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEKBURY     ' 

against  their  choice,  and  wrote  to  the  Emperor,  begging 
him  to  refuse  to  confirm  it ;  for  the  Emperors  since 
Constantine  had  claimed  and  exercised  at  least  a 
negative  voice  in  the  appointment  to  the  Sees  of 
the  greatest  cities.  The  prefect,  however,  withheld 
Gregory's  letter,  and  substituted  for  it  one  of  his  own, 
in  which  he  stated  the  desire  of  all  classes  of  the 
people  of  Eome,  and  begged  for  the  Emperor's  con- 
firmation of  it.  When  the  confirmation  arrived, 
Gregory  fled  from  the  city;  he  was  followed  and 
brought  back,  and  consecrated  in  September,  590  a.d. 

This  was  the  Eome  and  these  the  conditions  of  its 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  organisation  when  Gregory  was 
elected  to  its  See.  It  was  necessary  to  say  thus  much 
of  Gregory,  for  he  is  a  chief  person  in  our  present 
story.  The  mission  to  Kent  was  of  Gregory's  sending, 
and  he  kept  his  hand  upon  it.  Augustine  was  his 
agent,  and  his  merit  is  that  he  faithfully  carried  out 
his  master's  instructions.  But  we  need  not  pursue 
the  history  of  the  great  Pope  any  further.  It  must 
suffice  to  add  very  briefly,  that  he  was  a  man  of 
genius,  and  of  sincere,  ascetic  piety.  A  collection  of 
more  than  eight  hundred  letters,  on  all  kinds  of  sub- 
jects, bear  testimony  to  the  diligence,  justice,  good 
sense,  and  kindness  with  which  he  administered  the 
affairs  of  his  See.  He  showed  great  political  skill  and 
firmness  in  his  relations  with  the  Lombards  on  one 
hand,  and  the  Empire  on  the  other.  His  ecclesiastical 
policy  carried  forward  the  pretensions  of  Eome  towards 
that  authority  over  the  churches  of  Europe  which  it 
ultimately  attained ;  he  was  an  eloquent  preacher ; 
he  made  his  mark  on  the  services  and  music  of  the 


GREGORY  THE  GREAT  13 

Church ;  his  writings,  though  he  was  not  really  a 
theologian  of  the  first  rank,  were  among  the  popular 
text-books  of  the  early  mediaeval  Church  of  Europe. 

His  "  Morals "  {Magna  Moralia)  were  greatly  ad- 
mired, and  his  "  Pastoral  Care  "  {Liber  Pastor alis  CurcB) 
was  translated  into  various  languages.  An  Anglo- 
Saxon  version  was  made  by  King  Alfred,  who  sent  a 
copy  of  it  to  every  bishop  in  his  kingdom,  to  be  pre- 
served in  the  cathedral  church.  It  is  the  greatest 
of  his  writings,  and  is  still  a  living  work.  In  his 
Dialogues  he  gives  incidentally  his  views  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  soul  after  death,  and  puts  forth  the 
doctrine  of  a  purgatory  of  purifying  fire  more  distinctly 
than  it  had  been  stated  by  any  previous  writer. 

We  are  always  curious  to  know  the  personal  appear- 
ance of  the  men  whose  lives  have  interested  us,  and 
his  biographer,  John  the  Deacon,  gratifies  this  natural 
curiosity  in  the  case  of  Gregory.  He  describes  a 
picture  which  in  his  time  existed  in  the  hall  of  the 
Monastery  of  St.  Andrew  on  the  Cselian  Hill,  which 
contained  the  portraits  of  Gregory  and  his  parents. 
The  description  of  Gregory  gives  a  minute  analysis 
of  every  feature.  He  says  that  he  was  of  just  stature, 
but  well  formed : — Gregory  of  Tours,  however,  who 
paid  a  visit  to  his  great  namesake,  has  a  good-natured 
remark,  that  it  was  remarkable  that  so  great  a  man 
should  be  so  small  a  person,  which  enables  us  to  inter- 
pret John's  complimentary  epithet  of  "just"  stature. 
John's  statement  that  his  face  combined  his  father's 
length  with  his  mother's  roundness  of  visage  is  perhaps 
rather  indefinite.  He  goes  on  to  say  that  he  had  a 
large  round  tonsure,  surrounded  by  dark  hair  curling 
under  the  ears,  and  with  two  little  curls  on  the  forehead 


14  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

turning  towards  the  right ;  a  yellowish  (suh-fulva) 
beard  of  moderate  dimensions ;  the  eyes  not  large  but 
well  opened,  and  of  hazel  colour ;  the  eyebrows  long, 
slender,  and  arched ;  the  nose  slightly  aquiline,  thin 
where  it  descends  from  the  eyebrows,  broader  about 
the  middle,  and  expanded  at  the  nostrils ;  the  lips  red, 
full,  and  well  shaped ;  the  chin  rather  prominent ;  the 
expression,  as  a  rule,  mild;  with  fine  hands,  taper 
fingers,  and  well-shaped  nails.  He  is  represented  as 
habited  in  a  chestnut-coloured  planeta  over  a  dalmatic, 
and  a  narrow  pall  adjusted  round  the  shoulders  in  the 
manner  shown  by  the  mosaics  of  the  period.  He  held 
the  Gospels  in  the  right  hand  and  a  cross  in  the  left. 
A  square  nimbus  behind  the  head  indicated  that  he  was 
still  living,  and  that  the  picture  was  a  portrait. 


CHAPTEE    III 

The  Yokkshike  Slave-Boys  in  the  Eoman  Forum 

When  Gregory  returned  from  Constantinople,  he  took 
up  his  position  as  abbot  of  his  monastery,  and  the  Pope 
Pelagius  ii.  made  him  his  secretary.  Jerome  held  the 
same  office  under  Damasus,  and  we  gather  from  him 
that  the  duties  were  rather  those  of  a  secretary  of 
state  than  of  a  mere  scribe. 

Bede  records  the  tradition  of  the  origin  of  the 
mission  to  Britain.  Some  merchants  arrived  in  Eome, 
and  on  a  certain  day  exposed  many  things  for  sale  in 
the  market-place,  and  abundance  of  people  rushed 
thither  to  buy.  Gregory  went  among  the  rest.  His  route 
would  be  by  the  road  which  runs  through  the  valley 
between  the  Cselian  and  the  Palatine  Hills,  past  the 
Arch  of  Constantine,  by  the  huge  ruin  of  the  Colosseum, 
and  so  into  the  Porum,  the  focus  of  the  city's  life,  still 
surrounded  by  the  ruins  of  the  temples  and  palaces  of 
its  earlier  splendour.  Here  was  the  market  for  all 
kinds  of  vendibles,  and  slaves  were  included  among 
the  chattels  offered  for  sale.  A  group  of  these 
attracted  the  abbot's  attention  by  the  peculiarity  of 
their  appearance.  In  contrast  with  the  brown  skins 
and  black  hair  and  eyes  of  the  native  population, 
these  were  of  large  frame,  with  white  bodies,  beautiful 
faces,  and  hair  of  remarkable  beauty.     Having  viewed 

15 


16  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

them  with  interest,  he  asked  from  what  country  they 
were  brought,  and  was  told  from  the  Island  of  Britain, 
whose  inhabitants  were  of  like  personal  appearance. 
He  inquired  whether  the  people  of  the  island  were 
Christians,  or  still  involved  in  the  errors  of  paganism, 
and  was  informed  that  they  were  pagans.  "  Alas ! 
what  a  pity,"  he  said,  "  that  the  author  of  darkness 
should  be  possqgsed  of  such  fair  countenances,  and  that 
while  so  beautiful  in  outward  aspect  their  minds  should 
be  void  of  inward  grace."  He  asked  again,  "  What 
was  the  name  of  the  nation  to  which  they  belonged  ? " 
and  was  answered  that  they  were  called  Angles.  "  It 
is  good,"  he  said,  "  for  they  have  angel  faces,  and  it 
becomes  such  to  be  co-heirs  with  the  angels  in  heaven." 
"  And  what  is  the  name,"  he  proceeded,  "  of  the  pro- 
vince from  which  they  come?"  He  was  told  that  the 
natives  of  the  province  were  called  Deira.  "  It  is  well," 
he  said ;  "  De  ird — withdrawn  from  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  called  to  the  mercy  of  Christ."  "  And  how  is  the 
king  of  the  province  called?"  They  told  him  his 
name  was  ^Ue ;  and  he  answered,  alluding  to  the 
resemblance  of  the  name  to  Hallelujah,  "  It  is  fitting 
that  the  praise  of  God  the  Creator  should  be  sung  in 
those  regions."^ 

The  incident  made  a  great  impression  upon  the 
abbot's  mind,  and  he  conceived  the  idea  of  putting 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  missionaries  and  pro- 
ceeding to  the  conversion  of  these  interesting  people.^ 

^  John  the  Deacon,  wTiting  in  the  ninth  century,  tells  the  same 
story  in  nearly  the  same  words. 

2  Gregory's  biographers,  John  the  Deacon  and  Paul  the  Deacon, 
differ  as  to  the  date  of  this  incident ;  one  says  it  was  before  Gregory 
went  to  Constantinople,  and  the  other  says  after.  It  was  probably  in 
586  or  587  a.d. 


YORKSHIRE  SLAVE-BOYS  IN  THE  ROMAN  FORUM  17 

The  bishop  granted  his  request,  and  Gregory  started 
with  some  companions.  But  when  he  was  missed, 
and  the  cause  of  his  absence  was  known,  the  people 
beset  the  Pope  in  St.  Peter's  and  clamoured  for  his 
recall.  He  had  already  gone  three  days'  journey 
when  the  messengers  overtook  him.  The  story  runs 
that  he  was  reading  at  midday  while  his  companions 
rested,  when  a  locust  alighted  upon  his  book.  He 
called  his  companions'  attention  to  it,  and  said,  "  Lo- 
custa  signifies  Loco  Sta,  Stay  in  this  place,  and  portends 
that  we  shall  not  be  allowed  to  continue  our  journey ; 
but  rise,  saddle  the  beasts,  and  let  us  haste  on  our  way 
as  far  as  we  are  permitted."  But  while  he  spoke  the 
messengers  arrived  to  recall  him,  and  he  dutifully 
returned  with  them  to  the  city. 

Four  or  five  years  afterwards  (590  A.D.),  Gregory 
became  Bishop.  The  early  years  of  his  pontificate 
were  no  doubt  fully  occupied  with  the  pressing  polit- 
ical dangers  of  the  city  and  the  manifold  occupations 
of  the  See.  But  after  six  years  (596  a.d.)  the  old 
design  came  again  into  his  mind,  and  he  began  to  look 
about  for  means  of  putting  it  into  execution.  A  letter 
written  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  596  seems  to 
indicate  one  plan  which  occurred  to  him.  He  had 
recently  sent  one  of  his  priests,  Candidus,  to  take 
charge  of  a  small  estate  at  Marseilles  belonging  to  the 
See  of  Eome.  The  oversight  had  usually  been  under- 
taken by  the  Bishop  of  Aries,  on  behalf  of  his  brother 
of  Eome,  and  the  Bishop  of  Kome  had  paid  his  brother 
of  Aries  the  compliment  of  sending  him  the  pall  in 
return  for  his  services ;  but  Gregory  had  come  to 
suspect  that  the  returns  from  the  estate  had  not  been 
BO  great  as  they  ought  to  have  been,  so  he  sent  an 


18  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

agent  of  his  own  to  take  charge  of  it.  Gregory  began 
about  this  time  to  adopt  the  same  policy  on  the  other 
distant  estates  of  the  See,  because  it  gave  him  trust- 
worthy agents  of  his  own  for  the  general  business  and 
interests  of  the  See  scattered  in  various  countries.  In 
the  year  596  a.d.,  Gregory,  in  writing  to  Candidus, 
bids  him,  among  other  things,  to  look  out  for  and 
purchase  English  and  Saxon  boys  of  seventeen  or 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  send  them  to  Eome ;  in- 
tending, no  doubt,  to  have  them  educated  and  ordained 
and  sent  to  preach  to  their  fellow-countrymen. 

It  was  a  usual  practice  for  wealthy  people  to  have 
slaves  carefully  selected  and  educated  for  the  higher 
duties  of  their  households,  for  physician  or  secretary 
or  steward,  for  tutor  to  the  children,  or  man  of  letters, 
or  singer  or  musician  or  artist.  This  is  not  the  only 
example  of  slaves  being  trained  up  for  the  service  of 
religion.  Aidan  of  Northumberland  used  to  buy  the 
freedom  of  slaves,  unjustly  deprived  of  liberty,  and 
educate  them  in  his  schools,  and  ordain  some  of  them 
as  priests.  Before  the  end  of  the  year,  however,  the 
bishop  had  adopted  a  speedier  method  and  a  larger 
plan. 

Up  to  this  time  we  know  nothing  of  mission  work 
undertaken  by  the  Church  of  Eome,  but  we  know  that 
the  conversions  of  the  earlier  centuries  in  the  civilised 
countries  of  the  world  were  undertaken  on  the  apostolic 
model.  St.  Paul's  work  is  that  which  is  best  known 
to  us,  and  we  remember  that  he  was  accustomed  to 
take  with  him  one  or  more  companions,  and  to  go 
from  town  to  town,  preaching.  Many  of  the  early 
missions  were  the  solitary  enterprise  of  a  single  en- 
thusiast, as    Patrick,  Ninian,   Birinus,   Felix,   in   our 


YORKSHIRE  SLAVE-BOYS  IN  THE  ROMAN  FORUM  19 

own  Church  history.  But  the  Celtic  churches  had 
adopted  a  different  method.  They  were  accustomed 
to  send  out  a  company  of  monks  —  the  favourite 
number  was  an  abbot  and  twelve  monks,  after  the 
pattern  of  our  Lord  and  His  apostles — who  should 
found  a  monastery  in  the  country  to  be  evangehzed ; 
to  serve  as  a  pattern  of  Christian  life  and  a  centre  of 
Christian  teaching.  This  method  was  largely  adopted 
in  subsequent  times ;  and  perhaps  might  be  wisely 
used  now  in  certain  circumstances.  For  it  seems  as  if 
the  two  methods  were  adapted  to  two  different  sets  of 
circumstances ;  the  one  to  the  safety  of  travel  and 
freedom  of  intercourse  which  existed  in  the  Eoman 
Empire,  and  to  the  work  of  presenting  the  new  religion 
to  the  intelligence  of  civilised  people ;  the  other  to  the 
conditions  of  life  among  barbarous  peoples. 

'Whether,  in  imitation  of  other  missions,  or  from 
an  independent  view  of  its  wisdom  in  the  present 
circumstances,  Gregory  resolved  to  adopt  the  latter 
method,  and  to  plant  a  Christian  colony  in  the  country 
which  was  the  object  of  his  solicitude.  It  was  a  bold 
and  grand  design,  worthy  of  the  great  man  who  con- 
ceived it.  He  found  the  agents  for  its  accomplish- 
ment ready  to  his  hand  in  his  own  Monastery  of  St, 
Andrew's.  He  selected  about  thirty  of  its  monks,  and 
charged  Augustine  its  prior  with  the  leadership  of  the 
enterprise. 

This  is  our  earKest  introduction  to  Augustine,  the 
man  who  holds  so  distinguished  a  place  in  the  history 
of  the  English  Church.  Of  his  parentage  and  previous 
life  we  know  absolutely  nothiag.  We  shall  have  to 
study  him  for  ourselves,  as  we  are  used  to  study  a  new 
acquaintance  who  suddenly  enters  into  the  sphere  of 


20  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEEBURY 

our  life  to  play  an  influential  part  in  it,  and  slowly  to 
form  our  opinion  of  him  from  his  words  and  acts. 
There  is  this  strong  presumption  in  his  favour  at  the 
outset,  that  the  man  whom  Gregory  chose  as  prior  of 
his  own  convent,  and  then  judged  to  be  a  fit  man  to 
take  the  lead  in  so  important  and  difficult  an  enter- 
prise, must  have  been  a  man  of  piety  and  ability,  and 
a  man  to  be  trusted. 


CHAPTER   IV 

The  Departuke  of  the  Mission 

It  might  seem  at  first  sight  that  it  would  require  great 
preparations  for  the  journey  of  so  great  a  company  for 
so  long  and  difficult  a  journey.  "We  are  persuaded,  on 
the  contrary,  that  these  monks  set  out,  as  all  the  groups 
of  monks  did  who  in  subsequent  times  left  the  parent- 
house  to  found  a  new  home,  with  nothing  but  each  man 
his  robe,  staff,  scrip,  and  water-bottle,  and  a  pair  of 
strong  shoes.  All  the  baggage  they  had  besides,  was 
half  a  dozen  letters  of  introduction.  These  are 
addressed  by  Gregory  to  half  a  dozen  Gallic  bishops 
commending  the  travellers  to  their  protection  and  as- 
sistance, viz.,  to  Virgilius  Arelatensis  (of  Aries),  Pelagius 
Turnis  (of  Tours  ?),  Protasius  Aquae  Gallise  (of  Aix- 
les-Bains),  Desiderius  Viennensis  (of  Vienne),  and  Sya- 
grius  Augustodunensis  (of  Autun).  They  carry  also 
letters  to  Queen  Brunhilda  and  her  royal  sons,  Theo- 
doric  and  Theodebert,  and  to  Arigius  the  Patrician ; 
thus  securing  for  them  the  protection  of  the  civil 
authorities  of  Gaul.  The  example  of  them  which 
Bede  has  transcribed  into  his  History,  he  says,  was 
addressed  to  -^therius.  Bishop  of  Aries,  in  which  he 
is  mistaken,  since  it  is  certain,  from  the  contemporary 
History  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  that  Virgilius  was  at 
that  time  Bishop  of  Aries,  -^therius  was  the  name 
of  the  Bishop  of  Lyons,  and  it  is  very  probable  that 


22  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Gregory  sent  a  copy  of  the  letter  to  that  bishop,  f  s 
well  as  to  his  near  neighbour  of  Vienne. 
The  letter  is  as  follows : — 

"  To  the  most  Eeverend  and  Holy  Brother 
^therius,  my  Fellow-Bishop — Gregory,  the 
Servant  of  the  Servants  of  God. 

"  Although  to  priests  who  possess  the  charity  which 
is  pleasing  to  God,  religious  men  need  no  one's  recom- 
mendation, yet,  since  a  suitable  opportunity  of  writing 
offered  itself,  we  have  taken  advantage  of  it  to  send 
this  our  letter  to  your  Fraternity,  to  inform  you  that,  for 
the  welfare  of  souls,  we  have  directed  thither  the  bearers 
of  these  presents,  Augustine,  the  servant  of  God,  of 
whose  earnestness  we  are  assured,  with  other  servants 
of  God,  whom  it  is  requisite  that  your  Holiness  should 
hasten  to  help  with  friendly  affection,  and  to  give  them 
your  support.  We  have  enjoined  him  to  explain  the 
business  in  detail,  that  you  may  the  more  readily  give 
him  your  good  aid,  being  sure  that,  when  you  are 
acquainted  with  it,  you  will,  out  of  devotion  to  God, 
give  all  the  help  which  the  business  requires.  More- 
over, we  commend  to  your  kindness  in  all  things 
Candidus,  the  priest,  our  common  son,  whom  we  have 
sent  to  govern  a  small  patrimony  of  our  Church  [^  God 
keep  you  in  safety,  most  reverend  brother]. — Given  the 
tenth  day  before  the  Kalends  of  August  P  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  our  most  pious  and  august  lord,  Mauricius 
Tiberius,  the  thirteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of  our 
lord  aforesaid],  the  fourteenth  indiction,"  that  is,  the 
23rd  of  July,  in  the  year  596  A.D. 

^  These  words  are  in  the  Letters  of  Gregory,  but  not  in  Bede's 
History. 


THE  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  MISSION  23 

In  the  Collection  of  the  Letters  of  Gregory,  we 
find  this  same  letter  addressed  also  to  the  Bishop 
of  Marseilles  and  to  the  Bishop  of  Tours ;  another 
of  the  same  general  tenor,  but  differently  worded, 
to  Desiderius,  Bishop  of  Vienne,  to  Syagrius  of  Autun, 
and  to  Protasius  of  Aix,  and  a  separate  letter  to  Vir- 
gilius  of  Aries.  In  the  letter  to  Virgilius  he  adds  a 
paragraph  to  the  effect  that  his  predecessor  [probably 
not  Licerius,  but  Sapandus],  who  had  taken  care  of 
the  little  patrimony  at  Marseilles,  had  not  accounted 
for  some  of  the  revenue  due  from  it,  and  asking  for 
restitution ;  and  the  letter  to  Protasius  consists  mainly 
of  a  request  that  he  will  urge  Virgilius  to  make  this 
restitution. 

It  is  perhaps  natural  to  suppose  that  the  missioners 
would  travel  by  the  Aurelian  Way,  the  great  Roman  road 
which  skirted  the  Italian  coast  all  round  till  it  reached 
Provence,  and  then  by  Aix  to  Aries ;  then  another 
Eoman  road,  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Ehone,  would 
take  them  northward  to  Vienne.  We  have  to  submit 
an  alternative  route  for  consideration. 

First,  let  us  look  at  these  letters  of  introduction  as 
a  guide  to  the  intended  route.  We  observe  that  there 
are  no  letters  to  any  place  between  Eome  and  Gaul. 
On  the  theory  of  the  land  journey,  this  could  only  be 
accounted  for  by  supposing  that  there  was  nobody  in 
the  Lombard  territory  of  North  Italy,  to  whose  good 
offices  Gregory  could  commend  his  missioners.  But  this 
was  not  the  fact.  The  Lombards,  Barbarians  and  Arians 
as  they  were,  had  not  destroyed  the  orthodox  churches 
of  North  Italy,  whose  bishops  would  have  shown  all- 
hospitality  to  those  who  came  to  them  recommended 
by  the  great  Eoman  Bishop.     But  it  is  true  that  the 


24  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Lombards  were  in  possession  of  the  country  districts 
between  the  northern  limits  of  the  Eoman  Duchy,  a  few 
miles  from  Eome,  and  the  city  of  Nice ;  and  they  were 
hostile  to  the  Romans,  continually  committing  outrages 
upon  them,  ravaging  their  fields  up  to  the  very  gates 
of  Rome,  and  carrying  off  their  Roman  captives  into 
slavery.  A  company  of  Romans  travelling  across  the 
country  would  therefore  have  been  in  great  danger. 

We  submit  that  the  monks  avoided  the  toilsome 
journey  and  the  perils  of  the  way  by  a  coasting  voyage, 
which  carried  them  without  fatigue  or  danger  from  the 
Port  of  Rome  to  Marseilles,  where  they  would  find 
Candidus  zealous  in  their  service,  and  where  their 
letters  of  introduction  would  ensure  them  influential 
countenance. 

The  conjecture,  suggested  by  the  probabilities  of 
the  case,  is  supported  by  several  facts.  First,  by 
the  fact  that  at  a  little  later  date,  when  Pope  Stephen 
went  to  Gaul  to  appeal  to  King  Pepin  for  aid,  he 
avoided  the  whole  Lombard  country  by  taking  the  sea 
route ;  and  secondly,  by  the  fact  that,  at  a  still  later 
period,  Theodore,  with  Adrian  and  his  monks,  went  by 
sea  from  Rome  to  Marseilles.^ 

If  we  wish  to  see  with  the  mind's  eye  the  start  of  an 
expedition  of  so  much  interest  in  our  history,  we  must 
first  picture  the  scene.  The  present  Monastery  of  St. 
Andrew  still  occupies  the  same  site  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Cselian  Hill,  conspicuous  among  the  Seven  Hills 
by  its  crown  of  pines,  rising  immediately  behind  the 
vast  Colosseum,  which  the  windows  of  the  monastery 
overlooked ;  to  the  north  of  the  Caelian  rises  the 
Palatine  Hill,  divided  from  it  by  the  road  which  leads 
*  Bede,  Ecd.  Hid.  iv.  1. 


THE  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  MISSION  25 

through  the  Arch  of  Constantine,  and  turns  into  the 
Forum.  Upon  this  scene  we  may  next  place  the  actors 
in  this  memorable  incident.  We  may  picture  the 
company  of  some  thirty  monks  in  their  russet  robes, 
equipped  with  staff  and  scrip,  issuing  from  the  great 
gate  of  the  palatial  monastery  on  the  Cselian  Hill, 
with  the  silver  cross  before  them,  and  the  picture  of  our 
Lord  on  a  panel  mounted  as  a  banner,  singing  a  litany ; 
their  brother  monks  on  the  terrace  watching  their 
departure,  and  the  bishop  at  the  gate  with  his  hands 
raised  in  a  parting  benediction ;  a  crowd  of  Eomans, 
men,  women,  and  children,  with  their  flashing  eyes  and 
eager  gestures,  and  loud  addios,  lining  the  sides  of  the 
hollow  road  as  spectators ;  and  we  may  accompany 
their  procession  along  the  twelve  miles  of  dusty  road  to 
Ostia;  and  watch  them  embark  on  the  good  ship 
which  the  provident  bishop  has  provided  for  their 
voyage,  and  wait  on  the  seashore  till  the  sails  are  lost 
to  sight  in  the  glow  of  the  setting  sun. 


CHAPTER    V 

At  Makseilles 

Landing  at  Marseilles,  Candidus  would  welcome  them. 
The  patrimony  of  St.  Peter  of  which  he  was  rector, 
was  probably  an  estate  in  the  neighbouring  country, 
and  its  little  house  too  small  to  entertain  so  large  a 
company.  But  Candidus  knows  the  city,  and  would 
easily  arrange  for  their  sojourn  for  a  while  to  recover 
from  the  fatigues  of  their  voyage,  and  to  make  their 
plans  for  the  more  difficult  part  of  their  journey. 
There  were  two  monasteries  in  the  city,  they  would 
be  their  appropriate  resting-place,  and  both  would  be 
glad  to  offer  hospitality  to  the  monks  of  St.  Andrew's, 
and  to  have  the  merit  of  assisting  them  in  their 
glorious  enterprise.  Here,  then,  they  would  make 
some  stay,  Augustine  probably  visiting  the  neighbour- 
ing bishops  to  whom  he  had  Gregory's  letters  of  intro- 
duction, while  his  monks  remained  in  their  quarters. 
At  Marseilles  they  would  find  merchants  able  to  give 
them  the  best  information  about  the  journey  which  lay 
before  them,  and  the  prospect  which  awaited  them  at 
the  end  of  it ;  for  almost,  a  century  before  the  Christian 
era,  the  agents  of  the  commercial  colony  of  Marseilles 
had  visited  the  distant  island  in  search  of  new  markets, 
and  during  all  the  intervening  time  the  intercourse 
between  Britain  and  the  Eoman  world  which  encircled 

20 


AT  MAESEILLES  27 

the  Mediterranean  Sea  had  been  carried  on  through 
the  great  Greek  emporium. 

They  found  Gaul  full  of  trouble.  It  had  long  been 
in  a  state  of  intermittent  civil  war.  In  561  A.D.  the 
Frank  territory  was  divided,  according  to  the  national 
custom,  among  the  four  grandsons  of  Clovis  the  Con- 
queror. Charibert  held  the  Kingdom  of  Paris,  Guntram 
of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  Chilperic  of  Soissons,  and 
Sigebert  of  Austrasia.  These  brothers  were  continu- 
ally at  war  with  one  another.  The  chief  interest 
gathers  around  Chilperic  and  Sigebert ;  the  other  two 
brothers  played  minor  parts  in  the  history ;  or  rather, 
the  interest  centres  in  their  queens,  Fredegonda  and 
Brunhilda,  who  were  actuated  by  a  deadly  hate.  The 
powerful  Austrasian  King  was  stimulated  to  action 
by  Brunhilda,  seeking  vengeance  for  the  wrongs  of 
her  sister,  the  former  wife  of  Chilperic,  who  had 
been  murdered  by  the  agents  of  Fredegonda,  with 
Chilperic's  connivance — as  it  was  believed,  for  the 
talented,  versatile  Chilperic  was  under  the  influence 
of  the  beautiful  demon  Fredegonda.  Chilperic  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  infant  son,  Chlotaire  ii.,  in 
whose  name  Fredegonda  ruled  over  Neustria.  In  593, 
three  years  before  the  point  at  which  we  have  arrived 
in  our  history,  Guntram  had  died,  and  Childebert  suc- 
ceeded to  his  dominions.  In  596,  Childebert  died,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  two  sons,  Theodoric  receiving 
Austrasia,  and  Theodebert  the  remainder  of  their 
father's  dominions ;  they  were  both  boys,  and  their 
able  grandmother,  Brunhilda,  virtually  ruled  the 
greater  part  of  the  Frankish  Empire  in  their  names. 
Fredegonda  died  in  the  early  part  of  597  A.D.,  and 
there  was  peace  for  a  few  years,  which  might  be  at 


28  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

any  moment,  and  soon  actually  was,  broken  by  the 
ambitions  of  the  rival  sovereigns.  It  was  during  this 
pause  in  the  chronic  condition  of  civil  war  that 
Augustine  and  his  party  arrived.  Still,  since  there 
was  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  there  was  no  immediate 
danger  in  the  journey  through  France. 

But  the  Italians  had  gathered  still  more  unpleasant 
information  of  the  condition  of  things  in  the  country 
which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  their  future  work.  War 
still  raged  through  the  middle  of  the  island  from 
north  to  south,  between  the  fierce  heathen  invaders 
and  the  civilised  and  Christian  inhabitants  of  the 
land.  In  Northumbria,  the  precise  goal  of  their 
journey,  there  were  frequent  wars  between  the  rival 
royal  houses  of  the  two  kingdoms  of  Deira  and  Ber- 
nicia  into  which  it  was  divided,  like  the  wars  between 
the  rival  brother  kings  of  France  on  a  smaller  scale ; 
this  was  complicated  with  a  war  between  the  Nor- 
thumbrians and  the  native  Britons,  who  for  many 
years  after  this  time  kept  up  a  stubborn  resistance, 
and  even  forty  years  afterwards  (635  a.d,),  under 
Csedwalla,  actually  reconquered  the  whole  kingdom. 
Northumbria,  at  the  best,  was  in  the  cold,  bleak 
northern  part  of  the  land,  and  the  Angles  were  a 
fierce  and  barbarous  people ;  wars  and  rumours  of 
wars  everywhere.  When  brought  face  to  face  with  it, 
the  monks  must  have  been  greatly  impressed  with  the 
universal  disruption  and  confusion.  It  must  have 
strengthened  in  their  minds  the  general  belief  that 
the  world  was  coming  to  an  end.  Accustomed 
as  they  were  to  the  quiet  of  the  cloister  of  their 
stately  house  in  Eome,  they  were  greatly  alarmed  at 
the  prospect  before  them.     Bede  says  :  "  They  were 


AT  MARSEILLES  29 

seized  with  a  sudden  fear,  and  began  to  think  of 
returning  home  rather  than  proceed  to  a  barbarous, 
fierce,  and  unbelieving  nation,  to  whose  very  language 
they  were  strangers."  Augustine  either  shared  their 
fears  or  was  overpowered  by  their  remonstrances,  and 
consented  to  return  to  Eome  and  entreat  Gregory 
that  they  might  be  relieved  from  "  so  dangerous,  toil- 
some, and  uncertain  a  journey."  They  did  not  know — 
how  could  they  ? — that  out  of  the  break-up  of  the  old 
world  a  new  and  better  world  was  rising  up,  and  that 
they  were  to  play  no  unimportant  part  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  new  order  in  one  corner  of  that 
ultima  thule  of  pagan  barbarism,  to  lay  the  foundation- 
stone  of  that  mighty  fabric  of  a  Christian  England, 
destined  to  exercise  so  great  an  influence  upon  the 
future  history  of  the  world. 

We  may  picture  to  ourselves,  if  we  will,  the 
moment  when  Augustine  presented  himself  at  the 
Palace  of  the  Lateran ;  the  grave,  sorrowful  amaze- 
ment of  Gregory ;  the  head  bowed  with  shame  of 
Augustine,  as  he  knelt  at  the  feet  of  his  abbot  and 
bishop.  We  may  imagine  the  gentle  reproaches 
of  Gregory,  his  unfaltering  resolution,  his  spiritual 
encouragement;  how  he  would  point  out  that  the 
dangers  of  the  enterprise  made  it  more  glorious ;  that 
monks  must  not  shrink  from  hardships ;  and  that  if 
death  itself  awaited  them,  death  would  be  martyr- 
dom ;  how  he  would  express  his  grief  that  higher 
duties  would  not  suffer  him  to  go  at  once  and  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  faltering  sons,  and  lead  them 
in  person  to  the  holy  war ;  and  how  he  would  gradually 
inspire  his  own  lofty  spirit  into  the  heart  of  Augustine, 
and  win  from  him  the  declaration  to  do  or  die. 


30  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Then  would  follow  a  sober  consideration  of  prac- 
tical measures.  Augustine  would  report  what  he 
perhaps  had  in  his  mind  when  he  consented  to 
return  to  Eome ;  that  the  south-east  portion  of  the 
island  was  more  settled  and  civilised ;  that  the  king 
had  lately  married  a  Christian  princess  of  the  Franks, 
who  had  allowed  a  bishop  to  come  in  her  train  to 
minister  to  her ;  and  that  Kent  would  therefore  offer 
a  more  favourable  opening  for  their  work  than  the 
wild  Deira  to  which  they  had  been  sent.  Gregory 
was  a  statesman  and  a  man  of  good  sense,  and  would 
recognise  that  this  providential  incident  promised  a 
safe  footing  for  his  mission  to  the  English,  and  favour- 
able circumstances  for  the  beginning  of  its  work.  He 
sent  Augustine  back,  strengthening  his  authority  over 
his  companions  by  giving  him  the  formal  position  of 
their  abbot ;  he  also  gave  him  some  new  letters,  one 
to  the  monks  themselves,  another  to  Stephen  the 
Abbot,  and  perhaps  others.  This  is  the  letter  to  the 
monks : — 

"  Gregory,  the  Servant  of  the   Servants  of  the 
Lord,  to  the  Servants  of  our  Lord. 

"  Since  it  were  better  not  to  begin  a  good  work  than 
to  think  of  turning  back  from  it  when  begun,  it 
behoves  you,  most  beloved  sons,  to  accomplish  the 
good  work  which,  with  the  help  of  God,  you  have 
undertaken.  Let  not,  therefore,  the  toil  of  the  journey 
nor  the  tongues  of  men  predicting  evil  deter  you; 
but  with  all  earnestness  and  zeal  finish  what,  by 
God's  direction,  you  have  begun,  knowing  that  a  great 
labour  is  followed  by  a  greater  glory  of  eternal 
reward.     When  Augustine,  your  prior,  whom  I  have 


AT  MARSEILLES  31 

now  appointed  to  be  your  abbot,  has  returned  to 
you,  humbly  obey  him  in  all  things,  knowing  that 
whatever  you  shall  do  by  his  direction  will  in  all 
things  be  profitable  to  your  souls.  The  Almighty 
protect  you  with  all  His  grace,  and  grant  me  in  the 
eternal  country  to  see  the  fruit  of  your  labour,  so 
that,  though  I  am  unable  to  labour  with  you,  I  may 
be  partaker  with  you  in  the  joy  of  the  reward,  since  I 
long,  if  it  might  be,  to  labour  with  you.  God  keep 
you  in  safety,  most  beloved  sons. — Given  on  the  tenth 
of  the  Kalends  of  August  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  our 
lord,  Mauricius  Tiberius,  the  most  pious  Augustus,  in  the 
thirteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of  the  same  our 
lord,  in  the  fourteenth  indiction  (July  23,  596). 
[Same  date  as  former  letter  to  Virgilius  of  Aries.] 

We  may  imagine  how  Augustine  would  enlarge 
upon  the  brief  outline  here  laid  down ;  how  he  would 
announce  to  his  companions  the  change  of  their 
destination  from  bleak  Northumbria  and  its  fierce 
inhabitants  to  civilised,  fertile  Kent,  where  the  pro- 
tection of  a  Christian  queen  and  the  welcome  of  a 
Christian  bishop  awaited  them ;  how  he  would  impart 
to  them  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm  with  which  their 
great  Bishop  had  rekindled  his  own  zeal;  how  they 
would  acknowledge  his  authority  as  their  abbot,  and 
promise  to  follow  him  to  death,  if  such  should  be  the 
will  of  God. 

We  are  not  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  any  descrip- 
tion of  the  personal  appearance  of  Augustine,  such  as 
John  the  Deacon  has  given  us  of  his  great  master 
Gregory.  His  eleventh  century  eulogist,  Gocelin,  has 
given  us,  however,  one  striking  trait  by  which  we 
shall  always  be  able  in  our  mind's  eye  to  distinguish 


32  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBUEY 

Augustine  in  the  midst  of  his  companions.  He  was 
of  great  stature,  head  and  shoulders  above  the  average 
of  men.  Few  of  his  companions  are  known  to  us, 
even  by  name ;  among  them  were  Peter,  the  first 
abbot  of  the  monastery  which  Augustine  founded  at 
Canterbury,  Laurentius  who  succeeded  Augustine  at 
his  death  as  bishop,  and  Honorius  who  had  been  one 
of  Gregory's  youthful  pupils,  and  was  the  precentor 
of  the  monkish  choir ;  and  Jacob  the  Deacon,  who 
in  after  years  accompanied  Paulinus  to  Northumbria, 
may  have  been  one  of  this  original  band. 


CHAPTEE  VI 

The  Joubney  through  France 

The  Letters  of  Gregory  belonging  to  this  early  period  of 
the  mission  are  grouped  together  and  most  of  them  with- 
out date.  That  to  the  monks,  in  reply  to  their  request 
to  be  allowed  to  abandon  the  mission,  is  dated,  X.  Kal. 
Aug.  of  the  fourteenth  year  of  Maurice,  the  fourteenth 
indiction  (July  23,  596  A.D.),  and  happily  gives  us  an 
exact  date  for  the  setting  out  of  Augustine  from  Eome 
the  second  time.  That  which  is  addressed  to  Pelagius 
of  Tours  and  to  Serenus  of  Marseilles  is  dated  X.  Kal. 
Aug.  Indiction  14,  with  the  year  of  the  Emperor 
omitted,  and  was  probably  written  at  the  same  time. 
The  letter  to  Abbot  Stephen  bears  internal  evidence 
that  Augustine  brought  it  back  with  him  on  his 
return  from  Eome,  and  is  of  some  interest.  In  it 
Gregory  thanks  Abbot  Stephen  for  his  kindness  to 
Augustine,  and  for  a  present  of  spoons  and  bowls,  no 
doubt  wooden  spoons  and  bowls,  the  manufacture  of 
the  monks  in  their  leisure  time,  which  he  had  by 
Augustine  sent  as  a  present  to  the  poor  of  Eome. 
One  MS.  allocates  Stephen  to  Lerins,  the  little  island 
off  the  coast  of  Nice  where  was  a  monastery  which 
had  a  great  reputation  as  one  of  the  religious  centres 
of  the  period.  "We  gather,  therefore,  that  Augustine 
visited  this  monastery  from  Marseilles  after  he  had 
3 


34  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

resolved  to  return  to  Kome.  These  two  letters  suggest 
that  perhaps  others  of  the  group  were  given  to 
Augustine  at  his  second  departure,  but  there  is 
nothing  by  which  we  can  discriminate  them ;  and 
it  is  not  of  much  importance,  since  all  the  letters  are 
mere  letters  of  introduction  commending  "  the  bearers  of 
these  presents,  Augustine,  the  servant  of  God,  whose 
zeal  and  piety  are  well  known  to  us,  and  the  other 
servants  of  God  with  him,"  to  the  good  offices  of  the 
person  addressed,  and  referring  to  Augustine  himself 
for  further  information ;  they  all  also  commend  "  Can- 
didus,  a  priest,  to  whom  we  have  committed  the  care 
of  a  small  patrimony  of  our  Church."  The  fact  that 
Candidus,  the  Kector  of  the  Patrimony  at  Marseilles,  is 
mentioned  in  all  the  letters  to  be  delivered  along  the 
route,  seems  to  imply  that  Gregory  had  directed  him  to 
accompany  the  party  and  give  them  the  advantage  of 
his  local  knowledge  of  Gaul  and  its  affairs.  Some  of 
the  letters,  however,  demand  a  note. 

In  the  letter  to  the  Kings  Theodoric  and  Theo- 
debert,  and  that  to  their  grandmother,  the  Eegent 
Queen  Brunhilda,  Gregory  addresses  them  by  the 
title  of  Your  Excellency;  he  pays  them  the  rather 
far-fetched  compliment  of  speaking  of  the  Angles  as 
their  subjects ;  he  announces  as  a  reason  for  his  mission 
that  it  has  come  to  his  knowledge  that  the  nation  of 
the  Angles  greatly  desire  to  become  Christian,  but 
that  the  neighbouring  bishops  have  no  pastoral  soHci- 
tude  for  them,  and  neglect  them ;  therefore  he  has 
sent  Augustine  and  others  to  go  thither ;  also,  he  says 
he  has  directed  Augustine  to  take  with  him  some 
priests  of  the  neighbourhood.  What  he  means  by 
saying    that    the    Angles  greatly  desired   to   become 


THE  JOURNEY  THROUGH  FRANCE  35 

Christians  it  is  difficult  to  understand ;  there  is  no 
known  fact  which  justifies  the  statement  except  that 
the  King  of  Kent  had  sought  a  Christian  wife  among 
the  Franks.  The  neighbouring  bishops,  with  whose 
want  of  pastoral  zeal  he  finds  fault,  are  of  course  the 
British  bishops ;  Bede  elaborates  the  same  charge 
against  them ;  there  will  be  a  better  opportunity,  in 
the  sequel  of  the  history,  for  considering  the  truth 
of  the  accusation.  The  priests  of  the  neighbourhood 
whom  Augustine  is  to  take  with  him  are  probably 
Frank  priests,  to  act  as  interpreters. 

The  importance  of  securing  the  permission  and 
protection  of  the  rulers  of  Gaul  for  the  company  of 
ItaKans  passing  through  their  territory  is  shown  in 
the  fact  that  a  century  later,  when  Archbishop 
Theodore  and  Abbot  Hadrian  passed  through  on  their 
way  to  England,  the  abbot  was  stopped  and  detained 
for  some  time  by  Ebroin,  the  mayor  of  the  palace,  on 
the  suspicion  that  he  was  a  political  emissary  of  the 
Eastern  Emperor. 

Augustine's  mission  party  would,  however,  be  toler- 
ably sure  of  a  good  reception  at  court.  However  fierce 
and  unscrupulous  Queen  Brunhilda  may  have  been  in 
pursuit  of  revenge  against  her  enemy  Fredegonda,  she 
was  a  zealous  supporter  of  religion ;  she  had  before 
this  been  in  friendly  communication  with  the  great 
Bishop  of  Eome,  and  would  willingly  forward  his 
wishes ;  besides,  she  would  have  a  personal  interest  in 
the  enterprise.  Bertha,  daughter  of  Charibert,  who 
had  gone  to  Kent  as  the  wife  of  its  King,  was  her 
niece,  and  Brunhilda  would  therefore  take  a  natural 
interest  in  the  missionaries  who  were  going  to  the 
court    of    Kent,    partly   trusting   to   the  influence  of 


36  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Bertha  for  a  good  reception,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
converting  the  Kentish  men  to  the  faith. 

Then  comes  the  letter  to  the  Patrician  Arigius. 
The  title  of  Patrician,  with  which  Eastern  Emperors 
had  graced  the  Barbarian  Kings,  whom  they  desired  to 
conciliate,  had  by  this  time  come  down  to  their  great 
officials.  At  this  time  Duke  and  Patrician  seem  to 
have  been  different  titles  of  the  same  office,  viz.  that 
of  commander  of  the  armies  and  administrator  of  the 
royal  affiairs  in  a  large  territory;  the  latter  title 
seems  to  be  especially  in  use  in  the  Burgundian  king- 
dom. Arigius  the  Patrician  was  already  in  friendly 
relations  with  Gregory.  For  some  years  previously, 
when  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  agency  of  the  patri- 
mony, Arigius,  at  Gregory's  request,  had  received  its 
income,  and  looked  after  its  interests.  This  indicates 
that  Arigius  must  have  been  stationed  not  far  from 
Marseilles.  Very  probably  he  was  the  Frank  official 
in  authority  in  the  south  of  France,  and  stationed 
perhaps  at  Aries,  the  chief  city. 

Just  as  the  group  of  letters  to  the  Bishops  of 
Marseilles,  Aries,  and  Aix  indicate  some  stay  in  the 
south  of  France,  so  the  two  letters  to  the  Bishops  of 
Vienne  and  Lyons  indicate  the  route  of  the  travellers 
through  GauL  There  was  a  Eoman  road  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhone ;  but  we  think  it  most  likely 
that  our  travellers  saved  themselves  the  toilsome 
march  in  the  heat  of  summer  by  taking  boat  up  the 
river ;  and  we  resume  the  journey  with  them. 

At  Vienne,  the  Roman  character  of  the  city  would 
make  them  almost  fancy  themselves  still  in  Italy ;  a 
portion  of  the  portico  of  the  ancient  Forum  still  exists ; 
and   a    temple   supposed    to  have  been  dedicated  to 


THE  JOURNEY  THROUGH  FRANCE  37 

Augustus,  and  the  remains  of  the  theatre  on  the 
hillside,  still  remain.  Here  Augustine  would  present 
his  letter  of  introduction  to  the  Bishop  Desiderius,  and 
would  hardly  fail  to  be  reminded  that  the  Church 
of  Vienne  was  the  beginning  of  the  Christianity  of 
Gaul,  when  Pothinus  and  Irenaeus  came  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ephesus  and  planted  the  Church 
there.  But  it  seems  likely  that  the  travellers  would 
make  no  long  stay  here,  since  the  great  commercial 
emporium  of  the  centre  of  France,  Lyons,  to  which 
their  ship  would  naturally  be  chartered,  was  only  a  few 
miles  further  up  the  river,  and  there  they  would  have 
to  halt  and  make  arrangements  for  their  further  journey. 

At  Lyons  they  would  therefore  make  some  stay, 
and  their  letter  to  Bishop  ^therius  would  secure 
for  them  hospitality  and  assistance  in  their  further 
arrangements.  They  would  still,  we  think,  prefer  the 
convenience  of  water  carriage ;  and  another  voyage 
of  about  one  hundred  miles  up  the  Saone  would 
bring  them  to  Chalons,  the  usual  residence  of  Queen 
Brunhilda  and  her  royal  grandson,  Theodoric.  Here 
again,  therefore,  they  would  halt  and  present  their 
letters  of  introduction,  and  meet  with  a  friendly  recep- 
tion, for,  as  we  have  seen,  the  able  Queen  was  in  friendly 
correspondence  with  the  Bishop  of  Eome. 

The  next  letter  of  introduction  is  addressed  to 
Autun,  which  indicates  that  from  Chalons  the 
travellers  would  take  a  new  departure,  and  would 
strike  off  north-westward.  Here,  therefore,  the  real 
hardships  of  the  journey  would  begin,  for  water 
carriage  would  no  longer  be  available,  and  weary 
marches  for  many  days  lay  between  them  and  the 
northern    coasts    of    Gaul.     At    Autun    they    would 


38  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

halt  and  deliver  their  introduction  to  Syagrius,  its 
bishop. 

Autun  had  been  a  strong  fortress  and  a  great  city 
from  the  early  times  of  the  Eoman  occupation  of  Gaul : 
the  Eoman  gates,  through  which  our  travellers  would 
pass,  are  fine  works,  and  in  very  perfect  preservation ; 
and  portions  of  the  Eoman  wall  and  ruins  of  Eoman 
buildings  still  remain  to  bear  witness  to  its  former 
greatness.  Bishop  Syagrius  was  a  great  man,  a 
favourite  of  the  all-powerful  Queen,  in  correspondence 
with  Gregory,  and  under  recent  obligations  to  him  for 
the  gift  of  the  pall.  Here,  then,  they  would  be 
certain  of  a  welcome,  and  of  all  the  aid  of  which  they 
might  be  in  need. 

Two  letters  of  introduction  remain  unaccounted  for, 
first,  that  to  Pelagius,  Bishop  of  "  Turnis."  It  is  an 
unusual  way  of  spelling  Turonensis,  but  there  was  no 
other  Gallic  See  of  similar  name,  and  Pelagius  was 
Bishop  of  Tours  at  that  time  ;  he  succeeded  Gregory, 
the  famous  historian  of  Gaul,  in  the  previous  year ; 
so  that  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  letter  is  to  the  new 
Bishop  of  Tours.  But  that  city  was  hundreds  of 
miles  to  the  westward  of  the  route  which  Augustine 
must  have  taken. 

The  remaining  letter  is  to  Arigius,  Bishop  of  Vapin- 
cum,  i.e.  Gap.  But  Gap  was  a  little  town,  2500  feet 
above  the  sea-level,  among  the  Alps,  a  couple  of 
hundred  miles  to  the  east  of  their  route.  Arigius  was 
a  very  saintly  person,  and  a  great  friend  of  Gregory, 
whom  he  had  visited  in  Eome ;  the  letter  may  have 
been  intended  to  be  forwarded  by  messenger,  by  way 
of  friendly  greeting,  and  to  inform  Arigius  of  the 
interesting  work  in  hand. 


THE  JOURNEY  THEOUGH  FRANCE  39 

The  evidence  of  the  route  of  our  travellers,  afforded 
by  the  letters  of  introduction,  fails  us  at  Autun ;  the 
probability  is  that  thence  they  would  make  the  best 
of  their  way  northward  along  the  well-frequented 
highroad  to  Gessoriacum  (Boulogne),  the  usual  port  of 
embarkation  for  Britain,  from  before  the  days  of  Julius 
CcEsar  down  to  the  present  day.  At  Gessoriacum  they 
would  probably  halt  for  a  few  days  to  recover  from  the 
fatigue  of  their  long  march ;  and  daily,  from  the  hill 
on  which  the  old  town  stood,  would  gaze  wistfully 
across  the  channel  to  the  opposite  white  cliffs  of  the 
island,  the  goal  of  their  long  journey.  One  fine 
morning,  having  taken  farewell  of  Candidus,  but 
taking  with  them  the  Frank  interpreters,  they  would 
embark  with  a  fair  wind  and  set  sail.  Kichborough 
would  be  the  port  for  which  they  would  make.  It 
was  the  usual  port  of  entry  from  the  opposite  shore, 
for  Portus  Lemanis  (Lymne)  could  only  be  approached 
by  a  winding  and  difficult  creek  through  the  marshes ; 
Dubrise  (Dover)  was,  and  still  is,  in  spite  of  modern 
improvements,  dangerous  in  rough  weather ;  Sandwich 
Bay,  in  those  days — the  passage  is  silted  up  now — 
afforded  a  safe  entrance  into  the  Wansum  estuary, 
where  the  run  of  the  tides  formed  the  only  drawback 
— for  it  was  hardly  a  danger  to  those  who  knew  their 
ways.  Our  voyagers  would  therefore  make  for  the 
cliffs,  and  then  coast  along  them  north-eastward 
towards  the  gap  in  the  white  wall — from  Walmer  to 
Eamsgate — enter  the  estuary  of  the  Wansum,  and 
cast  anchor  in  the  narrow  strait. 

The  wide  tract  of  level  land  between  Walmer  and 
Eamsgate  has  undergone  considerable  changes  in  the 
intervening  centuries  between  then  and  now.     Then  it 


40  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

was  in  great  part  covered  with  water.  The  little  stream 
of  the  Stour,  which  now  runs  through  the  meadows  and 
forms  the  boundary  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  was  then  an 
arm  of  the  sea  a  mile  wide,  and  made  Thanet  really  an 
island,  and  ships  bound  up  the  Thames  for  the  com- 
mercial emporium  of  London  sailed  through  it,  instead 
of  passing  as  they  must  now  do  round  the  Foreland,  and 
encounter  the  dangers  of  the  sandbanks  which  beset 
the  mouth  of  the  Thames. 

There  were  two  harbours  in  the  estuary  of  the 
Wansum — Eutupise,  by  that  time  known  by  the  Saxon 
name  of  Eichborough,  was  the  principal  port  on  the 
mainland  of  Kent.  The  old  Eoman  fortress,  situated 
upon  a  promontory  above  the  level  of  the  marshes,  still 
stands,  in  places  thirty  feet  high,  with  its  square  and 
round  flanking  towers,  a  relic  of  the  Eoman  rule.  But 
the  little  harbour  of  Ebbe's  Fleet,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  estuary,  was  the  port  of  the  island ;  and  it  was 
there  that  Augustine  and  his  company  first  set  foot  upon 
the  land  which  was  to  be  the  scene  of  their  future  life 
and  labours. 

The  authority  for  saying  that  Augustine  landed  at 
Ebbe's  Fleet  is  Thorn,  the  fourteenth  century  monk  of  St. 
Augustine's ;  but  there  is  other  evidence  that  it  was  the 
usual  landing-place  for  Thanet  at  an  early  date.  Hengist 
and  Horsa,  St.  Mildred,  and  the  Danes,  are  all  said  to 
have  landed  there.  Ebbe's  Fleet  is  still  the  name  of 
a  farmhouse  standing  on  a  strip  of  high  ground,  rising 
out  of  the  Minster  Marshes,  marked  at  a  distance  by 
the  row  of  trees  which  crowns  it ;  and,  on  a  nearer 
approach,  it  is  seen  that  it  must  once  have  been  a 
headland  or  promontory  running  out  into  the  sea  be- 
tween the  two  inlets  of  the  estuary  of  the  Stour  on  one 


THE  LANDING  PLACE  41 

side,  and  Pegwell  Bay  on  the  other.  In  early  days  a 
rock  was  shown  here,  on  which  it  was  said  that  Augus- 
tine placed  his  foot  as  he  landed,  and  the  impress  of 
his  foot  remained  on  it  as  if  it  had  been  plastic  clay. 
In  later  times  it  was  said  that  St.  Mildred  landed 
there,  and  that  it  was  her  foot  which  left  its  miracu- 
lous mark,  and  a  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Mildred  was 
erected  over  it. 


CHAPTEE  VII 

England  in  596  a.d. 

The  fears  which  had  beset  them  at  Marseilles,  and 
made  them  seek  to  turn  back  from  their  enterprise, 
would  be  allayed  when  they  found  themselves  among 
civilised  people,  who  treated  them  with  consideration, 
and  only  required  that  they  should  wait  till  the  will  of 
King  Ethelbert  could  be  ascertained  as  to  their  further 
movements.  Augustine  sent  a  messenger  to  the  King 
from  Thanet,  and  waited  for  the  answer,  and  for  some 
days  the  party  halted  there;  the  Kentishmen,  not 
unaccustomed  to  the  sight  of  foreign  visitors,  yet 
wondering  at  this  large  company  of  Italians  with  their 
tonsured  heads  and  strange  monastic  robes ;  the  Italians 
eagerly  studying  the  large,  fair-complexioned,  blue-eyed 
natives,  among  whom  they  were  henceforth  to  live, 
and  their  strange,  rude  ways  ;  each  asking  the  other  all 
kinds  of  questions  through  their  Frank  interpreters. 

Here  we  may  conveniently  take  our  stand,  and  from 
this  corner  of  the  land  consider  the  condition  of  the 
island  and  its  people,  as  it  would  be  presented  to  the 
Italians  in  answer  to  their  inquiries. 

Kent  was  the  first  part  of  the  island  which  had  been 
conquered  by  the  Teutonic  invaders.  It  is  probable 
that  its  conquest  had  been  effected  with  less  violence, 
less  disturbance  of  the  native  population,  and  therefore 

42 


ENGLAND  IN  596  A.D.  43 

with  less  interruption  of  its  prosperity,  than  some 
other  parts. 

The  Jutes  had  come  into  the  island  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  before  (c.  450),  and  the  grant  of  Thanet  as  the 
payment  of  their  military  services  was  the  beginning 
of  their  kingdom.  Oisc,  the  son  of  the  mythic  Hengist, 
was  the  first  to  take  the  title  of  King  of  Kent,  and 
his  descendants  were  called  Oiscings;  Oisc  was  the 
father  of  Octa,  and  he  of  Irminric,  and  he  of  Ethelbert, 
now  reigning.  The  kingdom  of  the  South  Saxons 
had  been  founded  to  the  west  of  them,  and  the  kingdom 
of  the  West  Saxons  still  further  westward,  and  so  the 
whole  south  of  the  country  had  been  conquered  and 
settled  as  far  as  the  Avon  on  the  borders  of  Wilts  and 
Dorset  by  the  year  516;  soon  afterwards  the  East 
Saxons  had  founded  a  kingdom  in  the  country  north 
of  the  Thames,  and  the  East  Angles  in  the  eastern 
peninsula  still  to  the  north  of  Essex  ;  and  thus,  by 
the  year  577,  the  whole  eastern  side  of  the  country, 
as  far  north  as  the  Humber,  had  been  conquered  and 
settled. 

The  settlement  of  the  respective  territories  and 
mutual  relations  of  the  independent  bands  of  conquerors 
had  not  been  effected  without  some  appeals  to  the 
arbitrament  of  arms.  When  their  boundaries  had  been 
adjusted,  there  was  still  a  question  of  supremacy  of  one 
over  the  rest  to  be  determined.  Bede  records  that 
the  first  who  exercised  this  supremacy  "  over  all  the 
southern  provinces  that  are  divided  from  the  northern 
by  the  river  Humber,  and  the  borders  contiguous  to 
the  same,"  was  ^lle,  King  of  the  South  Saxons,  then  it 
came  to  Ceawlin,  King  of  the  West  Saxons,  and  then 
Ethelbert  of  Kent  obtained  it. 


44  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

The  subject  of  this  dignity  of  Bretwalda,^  which 
seems  to  mean  Lord  of  Britain,  is  an  obscure  and 
difficult  one.  The  probable  explanation  of  it  is,  that 
when  the  imperial  power  was  withdrawn  from  the 
province  of  Britain,  the  native  people  kept  up  the 
existing  form  of  government  as  well  as  they  could. 
This  consisted  in  outline  of  a  Vicar  of  Britain,  in 
whom  the  civil  administration  centred,  while  the 
military  command  was  divided  between  three  officials; 
the  Count  of  Britain  had  the  general  and  supreme 
control ;  to  the  Count  of  the  Saxon  shore  was  com- 
mitted the  command  of  the  troops  and  fortresses 
devoted  to  the  defence  of  the  eastern  and  southern 
shores ;  the  Duke  of  Britain  had  the  command  of 
the  troops  and  fortresses  which  protected  the  north 
and  north-west.  One  and  another  of  the  Teutonic 
conquerors,  it  is  conjectured,  on  defeating  one  of 
these  native  officials,  assumed  his  title  to  himself, 
and,  on  being  defeated  in  the  contests  which  the 
conquerors  waged  among  themselves,  yielded  it  to  the 
victor.  We  seem  to  see  this  very  clearly  in  the  case  of 
Edwin  of  Northumbria,  who,  after  his  victory  over 
Cadwallon,  assumed  the  dignity  of  Bretwalda.  His 
authority  is  spoken  of  (hyperbolically,  no  doubt)  as 
extending  throughout  the  island  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
"  his  dignity  was  so  great  throughout  his  dominions  that 
his  banners  were  not  only  borne  before  him  in  battle, 
but  even  in  time  of  peace,  when  he  rode  about  his 
cities,  towns,  or  provinces  with  his  officers,  the  standard- 
bearer  was  wont  to  go  before  him.  Also,  when  he 
walked  along  the  streets,  that  sort  of  banner  which  the 

^  Bretwalda,  Bretenanwealda,  and  Brytanwealda,  are  the  three  forms 
in  which  the  title  appears  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle. 


ENGLAND  IN  596  A.D.  45 

Eomans  call  Tufa}  and  the  English  Tuuf,  was  in  like 
manner  borne  before  him."  We  should  conclude,  there- 
fore, that  J^lle,  King  of  the  South  Saxons,  had  defeated 
the  Count  of  the  Saxon  shore,  and  assumed  his  title  as 
implying  the  rule  of  the  conquered  Eoman  British 
population,  that  he  or  his  successor  had  been  defeated 
by  Ceawlin  of  the  West  Saxons,  and  had  yielded  the  title 
as  one  of  the  spoils  of  victory,  and  that  Ceawlin  or  his 
successor  had  in  turn  been  defeated  and  had  yielded 
the  title  to  Ethelbert  of  Kent.  We  shall  see  in  the 
sequel  of  the  story  that  the  title  implied  a  real  and 
effective  authority  over  the  subject  kings. 

King  Ethelbert  thus,  as  we  have  said,  was  a 
powerful  King,  ruling  his  own  Kentishmen  in  peace 
and  prosperity,  and  exercising  supremacy  over  the 
whole  south  -  east  of  the  island,  northward  to  the 
Humber,  and  westward  to  the  Dorset  Avon.  But 
this  was  the  whole  of  the  island  which  was  at  this 
time  peacefully  subject  to  the  Teutonic  conquerors. 
Beyond  these  limits  the  slow  war  of  the  two  races 
still  raged. 

The  Angles  of  Northumbria  were  still  engaged  in 
chronic  hostilities  with  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  and 
the  final  issue  was  still  doubtful.  Bands  of  adven- 
turers were  gradually  winning  for  themselves  settle- 
ments in  the  middle  of  the  country,  destined  to  co- 
alesce into  a  kingdom  of  Mercia,  but  another  thirty 
years  had  to  elapse  before  Mercia  had  spread  over 
middle  England,  and  sixty  years  before  the  Briton 
ceased  to  dispute  the  possession.  On  the  Welsh 
border  the  war  still  raged,  and  conquest  did  not  reach 
its  limit  for  nearly  two  centuries.  On  the  border  of 
^  A  globe  or  a  tuft  of  feathers  fixed  on  a  spear. 


46  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

West  Wales  (Dorset,  Devon,  and  Cornwall),  also  the 
same  chronic  strife  existed,  and  the  stubborn  defence 
of  the  native  Eomanised  population  was  only  slowly- 
driven  back.  In  summarising  our  national  history, 
the  fact  is  often  imperfectly  recognised,  in  the  long 
perspective  of  time,  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquest 
lasted  over  about  two  hundred  years,  and  that  no  part 
of  the  Eoman  Empire  made  so  stubborn  and  prolonged  a 
resistance  to  the  Barbarian  conquest  as  the  ex-province 
of  Britain.  Indeed,  the  natives  of  the  Cornish  pen- 
insula did  not  lose  their  independence  till  the  reign 
of  Athelstane,  in  the  tenth  century  ;  Wales  did  not 
finally  submit  to  the  conqueror  till  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  we  are  the  witnesses  of  a  recrudescence 
of  the  national  spirit  in  the  contemporary  demand  for 
Welsh  Home  Rule. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  notice  that  Ethel- 
bert  had  sought  to  ally  himself  in  marriage  with  the 
house  of  Clovis,  and  that  Bertha,  the  daughter  of 
Charibert,  had  been  given  to  him,  on  condition  that 
she  should  retain  the  free  exercise  of  her  religion,  and 
that  Liudhard,  Bishop  (of  Senlis  ?),  had  accompanied  her 
to  Kent.  The  Queen  would  probably  have  some  Frank 
female  attendants,  and  the  bishop  would  very  likely 
be  accompanied  by  a  deacon  at  least,  so  that  there 
was  a  little  group  of  Christians  already  at  the  Kentish 
court.  Their  personal  influence  ensured  a  friendly 
reception  to  the  Italian  visitors ;  but  even  without  it, 
Ethelbert  was  sufficiently  civilised,  and  sufficiently  in 
touch  with  the  social  aud  political  life  of  the  Con- 
tinent, to  have  offered  no  violence  to  a  company  of 
peaceful  men  sent  by  the  illustrious  Bishop  of  Rome, 
and  with  the  good  wishes  of  the  Frank  kings. 


ENGLAND  IN  696  A.D.  47 

Accordingly,  the  messengers  to  the  King  sent  by  the 
man  in  authority  at  Ebbe's  Fleet,  to  know  what  was 
to  be  done  about  these  bands  of  Italian  strangers, 
brought  back  a  peaceful  reply  ;  they  were  to  remain 
for  the  present  where  they  were,  and  to  be  supplied 
with  all  which  was  necessary,  until  the  King  should 
come  and  hear  what  they  had  to  say. 

After  a  short  delay,  Ethelbert  came  to  the  island 
and  gave  Augustine  and  his  companions  audience. 
The  King  arranged  that  the  interview  should  take 
place  in  the  open  air,  from  a  superstitious  behef  that 
any  magical  influence  which  the  strangers  might 
possess  would  be  less  effectual  in  the  open  air  than 
in  a  house.  It  is  the  unaccustomed  which  creates 
fear.  The  imagination  of  the  dweller  in  cities  peoples 
the  weird  heath  and  the  silent  forest  with  shapes  of 
fear;  the  dweller  in  the  open  country  fears  the 
cramping  labyrinth  of  the  streets,  and  the  darksome 
nooks  and  corners  of  houses  built  by  men.  A  very 
ancient  oak,  on  a  rising  ground  about  the  middle  of 
the  Isle  of  Thanet,  was  for  centuries  believed  to  be  the 
very  tree  under  whose  spreading  boughs  the  moment- 
ous interview  was  held ;  an  obelisk  now  marks  the  spot. 
We  may  picture  the  Kentish  King  seated  on  his  chair 
beneath  the  oak,  and  Queen  Bertha  would  not  be 
absent  on  an  occasion  of  so  great  interest  to  her ; 
about  the  King,  his  counsellors  and  armed  attendants ; 
about  the  Queen,  her  bishop-chaplain,  and  her  female 
attendants ;  and  a  crowd  of  Kentish  people — men, 
women,  and  children — as  spectators.  The  strangers 
came  upon  the  ground  in  a  way  which  must  have 
made  a  strong  impression  upon  the  imagination  of  the 
beholders.     When  we  pictured  them  as  leaving  their 


48  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

monastery  at  Eome,  it  was  a  picture  reflected  back 
from  this  occasion,  on  which  we  are  expressly  told 
that  they  came  to  the  interview  in  procession.  A  tall 
silver  cross  preceded  them ;  the  picture  of  the  Saviour 
— the  solemn  Byzantine  type  of  face  which  we  still  see 
in  the  ancient  mosaics — was  carried  like  a  banner  in 
the  midst ;  the  forty  monks,  in  their  russet  robes  and 
cowls,  walked  with  slow  step,  two  and  two ;  Honorius, 
the  youthful  chorister,  first,  and  the  tall  form  of 
Augustine  closing  the  procession ;  and  as  they 
approached  they  sang  a  litany,  in  which  they  prayed 
for  the  salvation  of  those  to  whom  they  had  come. 

Augustine  sat  down  at  the  King's  command,  and, 
through  the  medium  of  the  Frank  interpreters,  preached 
to  the  listening  people  the  Word  of  Life.  The  King's 
reply  was  not  wanting  in  dignity  and  good  sense : 
"  Your  words  and  promises,"  he  said,  "  are  plausible, 
but  since  they  are  new  and  doubtful,  I  cannot  at  once 
assent  to  them,  and  leave  the  customs  which  I  have 
so  long  observed  with  the  whole  English  race.  But 
since  you  have  come  hither,  strangers  from  a  great 
distance,  and  I  see  clearly  that  what  you  yourselves 
believe  to  be  good  and  true,  you  wish  to  impart  to  us, 
we  do  not  wish  to  molest  you ;  nay  rather,  we  are 
anxious  to  receive  you  hospitably,  and  to  give  you  all 
that  is  needed  for  your  support,  nor  do  we  hinder  you 
from  doing  all  you  can  to  win  people  to  the  faith  of 
your  religion."  If  the  words  of  the  King  were  full 
of  encouragement,  his  actions  more  than  fulfilled  the 
promise  of  his  words,  for  he  directed  the  strangers  to 
go  to  his  capital,  and  made  arrangements  there  for 
their  lodging  and  maintenance. 

They  would  be  ferried  across  the  strait  to  Rich- 


ENGLAND  IN  596  A.D.  49 

borough,  and  accomplish  the  last  stage  of  their  long 
journey  on  foot,  along  the  Eoman  road.  At  length, 
from  the  summit  of  St.  Martin's  Hill,  they  would 
come  in  sight  of  their  future  home ;  a  city  in  the 
meadow,  beside  the  little  river  Swale,  surrounded 
by  Eoman  walls,  with  some  Eoman  buildings  of  mixed 
brick  and  stone,  standing  lofty  and  massive  among 
the  low  timber  houses  of  the  English.  A  little 
to  the  left,  outside  the  city,  they  would  see  the 
recently  repaired  Eoman  Church  of  St.  Martin,  in 
which  Bishop  Liudhard  maintained  the  divine  service 
for  Queen  Bertha  and  her  people.  Here  they  again 
formed  themselves  into  procession,  and  entered  the 
city  amidst  the  wonder  of  the  townspeople,  singing : 
"  We  beseech  Thee,  0  Lord,  in  all  Thy  mercy,  that 
Thy  anger  and  wrath  be  turned  away  from  this  city, 
and  from  Thy  holy  house,  because  we  have  sinned. 
Hallelujah!" 


CHAPTEK   VIII 

The  Eeception  of  the  Mission 

The  boundaries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Kent  were  the  same 
as  those  of  the  modern  county,  but  the  condition  of 
the  country  was  very  different.  The  extensive  forest  of 
Andred  covered  a  great  part  of  the  south-west  of  the 
country,  dense  woods  fringed  the  borders  of  Eomney 
Marsh,  another  great  tract  of  woodland  spread  beyond 
Canterbury  to  the  north.  The  Weald  of  Kent,  a  ridge 
of  hills  covered  with  scrub,  extended  through  the 
middle  of  the  country. 

Only  a  small  portion  of  the  land  was  occupied,  and 
it  is  hard  to  realise  how  small  was  the  population.^ 
The  Eoman  fortresses,  by  which  the  coast  had  been 
protected  from  the  Saxon  pirates,  Rutupise  (Rich- 
borough),  Dubrae  (Dover),  and  Portus  Lemanis  (Lymne), 
must  have  been  in  good  preservation  then,  and  possibly 
garrisoned ;  the  other  Roman  towns  of  Regulbium 
(Reculver),  Durovernum  (Canterbury),  and  Durobrivse 
(Rochester),  seem  to  have  survived  storm  and  sack, 
and  perhaps  still  existed  partly  in  ruins,  but  more  or 
less  inhabited,  Roman  roads  ran  from  Richborough, 
through  Canterbury  and  Rochester,  to  London ;  others 
from  Canterbury  to  Dover  and  to  Lymne,  and  from 

^  The  population  of  all  England  four  centuries  later  was  only  two 
millions. 

50 


THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  MISSION  51 

Eichborough  to  Dover ;  and  still  another  branched  off 
from  the  main  London  road  to  a  spot  opposite  the 
Roman  town  at  East  Tilbury,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Thames,  where  a  ferry  across  the  river  formed  the 
usual  passage  between  the  two  countries  of  Kent  and 
Essex. 

There  is  a  question  of  considerable  importance  in 
the  history  of  this  period,  which  is  still  under  dis- 
cussion and  awaiting  further  archaeological  discoveries 
for  its  determination :  to  what  extent  the  Eomano- 
British  population  was  slaughtered  by,  or  driven  away 
before,  the  Teutonic  conquerors.  The  general  course 
of  the  conquest  of  Italy  by  the  Goths,  and  of  Gaul  by 
the  Franks  and  Burgundians,  was  that,  on  the  defeat 
of  the  Eoman  armies,  the  country  submitted  to  its  new 
masters.  The  cities  capitulated,  and  were  allowed  to 
retain  their  old  municipal  life  under  their  own  magis- 
trates and  laws ;  the  Barbarian  king  requiring  nothing 
more  than  the  tribute  and  service  which  had  been 
rendered  to  the  Emperor.  Land  was  demanded  for 
the  new  settlers,  but  with  remarkable  consideration 
for  old  proprietors. 

The  Barbarian  tribes  who  fell  upon  Britain  were 
more  fierce  and  barbarous  than  the  Goths  and  Franks, 
who  had  long  been  in  contact  with  the  Empire,  while 
Britain  was  disorganised  and  less  able  to  hold  its 
own  against  the  invaders.  It  has  been  held  by  some 
historians,  that  the  Jutes,  Saxons,  and  Angles  waged  a 
war  of  extermination,  storming  and  sacking  every  town 
and  massacring  the  inhabitants,  and  slaying  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  open  country  who  failed  to  make 
their  escape.  The  very  neighbourhood  at  which  we 
have  arrived  affords  an  actual  example  of  the  destruc- 


52  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

tion  of  a  town,  for  the  history  expressly  says  that 
Anderida,  a  town  on  the  Sussex  side  of  the  great 
forest  which  covered  half  Kent,  was  stormed  and  not 
a  soul  left  alive  in  it.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  main- 
tained by  others  that  such  ruthless  warfare  was 
contrary  to  the  habits  of  the  Teutonic  people,  that 
there  are  many  evidences  that  the  life  of  some  of  the 
towns  continued  through  the  crisis,  and  that  many  of 
the  native  inhabitants  of  the  open  country  retained 
their  places  on  the  soil,  and  submitted  to  and  were 
spared  by  the  conquerors. 

Without  entermg  into  the  general  question,  we 
venture  to  say  that  there  are  reasons  for  thinking 
that  in  Kent  at  least  some  of  the  towns  survived 
the  conquest,  or  at  least  were  speedily  rebuilt  and 
re-peopled,  and  that  many  of  the  Britons  remained 
in  the  country  places.  To  begin  with,  the  Jutes 
obtained  their  first  footing  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet 
by  its  cession  to  them ;  and  they  were  for  some 
time  in  friendly  relations  with  the  neighbouring 
people.  Their  mastery  over  the  rest  of  Kent  seems 
to  have  been  determined  by  the  result  of  several 
great  battles,  two  of  which,  the  history  tells  us,  were 
fought  at  Crayford,  and  the  defeated  Britons  fled 
towards  Londinium.  This  looks  like  the  effort,  not  of 
the  natives  of  Kent  to  defend  theii*  own  land,  but  like 
an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  British  authorities — it 
was  the  beginning  of  the  conquest,  and  the  British 
organisation  was  not  yet  broken  up — to  defeat  and 
expel  the  invaders.  The  native  inhabitants  would 
find  near  and  inaccessible  places  of  refuge  from  a 
force  which  they  could  not  resist,  in  the  woods,  the 
weald,  the  forest,  and  the  marshes.     The  towns  were 


THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  MISSION  53 

all  in  positions  in  which  the  advantages  of  situa- 
tion, and  the  necessities  of  society,  required  that 
towns  should  be ;  at  the  ports — Eegulbium,  Eutupiae, 
Dubrse,  and  Lemanis ;  along  the  great  roads — at  Duro- 
vernum,  Durolevum,  and  Durobrivse,  through  which  the 
intercourse  of  the  country  with  the  Continent  passed. 
The  conquerors,  after  all,  were  few  in  number,  and 
could  not  profitably  occupy  the  whole  of  the  cultivated 
land ;  and  it  seems  likely  that,  while  seizing  all  they 
wanted,  they  would  leave  the  conquered  people  to  live 
upon  the  remainder. 

But  one  thing  seems  certain,  that  the  heathen 
conquerors  had  stamped  out  the  Christian  religion. 

"We  are  specially  concerned  at  present  with  the  city 
of  Durovernum,  to  which  the  new  inhabitants  had  given 
the  new  name  of  Cantwara-byrig,  into  which  we  have 
seen  the  Italian  mission  enter  in  procession,  with  cross 
and  banner  and  chanted  litany.  Externally  its  walls 
and  gates  gave  it  the  aspect  of  a  Eoman  city,  and  our 
band  of  monks  might  be  encouraged  by  the  thought  that 
they  were  entering  a  city  like  one  of  those  of  Gaul, 
through  which  they  had  lately  passed  in  their  long 
pilgrimage.  Internally  they  would  find  a  different  state 
of  things.  It  was  the  capital  of  the  Jute  Kingdom, 
wMch  had  been  in  a  condition  of  settled  prosperity 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  houses  of  the 
Eoman  towns  in  Britain  had  usually  only  foundations 
of  masonry  and  walls  of  timber ;  a  storm  and  sack  and 
conflagration,  if  that  had  been  the  fate  of  Durovernum, 
would  leave  a  heap  of  ruins.  But  the  charred  timbers 
and  heaps  of  roof-tiles  would  have  been  long  since 
cleared  away,  and  new  houses  built  by  the  Jute 
inhabitants,  and  there  must  have  been  by  this  time  a 


64  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

new  town  built  within  the  old  walls,  full  of  the  life 
which  belonged  to  what  is  expressly  called  by  Beds 
"  the  capital  of  all  the  dominions  "  and  the  seat  of  the 
court  of  Ethelbert,  King  of  Kent,  and  Bretwalda.  The 
fact  that  the  King  looked  beyond  the  families  of  the  kings 
of  the  East  or  South  Saxons  or  the  East  Angles,  and 
sought  a  bride  from  the  great  house  of  Clovis,  throws 
some  light  upon  the  situation.  It  indicates  that  he 
was  a  powerful  and  prosperous  king,  who  might  fairly 
aspire  to  so  distinguished  a  matrimonial  alliance ;  that 
he  had  relations  with  France  and  with  the  Frank 
kings ;  that  the  relatives  of  Bertha  were  willing  to 
compromise  the  religious  question  shows  that  they 
recognised  that  the  alliance  was  not  beneath  their 
dignity ;  and,  notwithstanding  this  difficulty,  the 
daughter  of  Charibert,  the  grandson  of  Clovis,  was 
content  to  marry  Ethelbert  of  Kent. 

Canterbury,  then,  would  be  a  thriving  Teutonic 
town  within  its  old  Eoman  walls.  There  would  be 
some  of  the  buildings  of  the  Eoman  period  still  standing, 
for  Eoman  brick  and  mortar  are  almost  indestructible. 
There  would  be  remains,  at  least,  of  temple  and  court- 
house and  theatre.  But  what  concerned  Augustine, 
and  concerns  us,  is  that  among  the  old  Eoman  build- 
ings of  the  city  there  was  a  church,  disused  and  in 
disrepair,  for  it  had  been  empty  for  a  century,  but 
with  its  walls  at  least  still  standing  in  all  the  solidity 
of  Eoman  construction.  The  temporary  dwelling- 
place  which  Ethelbert  assigned  them  is  said  to  have 
been  in  Stable  Gate  ^  or  Staple  Gate,  in  the  extreme 
north  part  of  the  city,  now  the  North  Gate,  by  which 
they  entered  into  it. 

» Thom. 


THE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  MISSION  55 

Bede  says  that  as  soon  as  they  entered  it  "  they 
began  to  imitate  the  course  of  life  practised  in  the 
primitive  Church ;  applying  themselves  to  frequent 
prayer,  watching,  and  fasting;  despising  all  worldly 
things  as  not  belonging  to  them ;  preaching  the  Word 
of  Life  to  as  many  as  they  could,  receiving  only  their 
necessary  food  from  those  they  taught ;  living  them- 
selves in  all  respects  conformably  to  what  they  pre- 
scribed to  others ;  and  being  always  disposed  to  suffer 
any  adversity,  and  even  to  die,  for  that  truth  which 
they  preached," 

The  passage  is  a  litle  rhetorical,  and  the  last  clause 
of  it  inevitably  provokes  the  remark  that  there  was 
not  much  danger  now  of  adversity  or  death,  and  that 
when  there  was,  at  the  beginning  of  their  journey,  they 
were  anxious  to  turn  back.  But  we  may  take  it  as 
an  assurance  that  they  at  once  resumed  the  monastic 
course  of  life  interrupted  by  their  long  journeying, 
with  its  numerous  day  and  night  services  of  prayer, 
and  its  ascetic  observances,  and  began  with  zeal  their 
work  of  evangelisation.  There  is  perhaps  nothing 
more  striking,  in  its  way,  to  a  people  who  have 
no  experience  beyond  the  average  life  of  worldly 
occupations  and  aims,  than  such  a  sight  as  that 
which  this  Italian  community  presented  to  the 
honest,  simple,  worldly-minded  Teutons  around  them. 
It  is  very  possible,  we  repeat,  that  if  some  of  our 
modern  missions  were  commenced  in  a  similar  way — 
mutatis  mutandis — they  might  have  greater  success. 
In  this  case  at  least  it  was  successful.  "  Some,  ad- 
miring the  simplicity  of  their  innocent  Hfe  and  the 
sweetness  of  their  heavenly  doctrine,  believed  and 
were  baptized." 


56  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

At  first,  "  till  the  King,  being  converted  to  the  faith, 
allowed  them  to  preach  openly  and  build  or  repair 
churches  in  all  places,"  they  used  the  Church  of  St. 
Martin,  just  without  the  walls,  for  their  more  public 
services — for  mass  and  preaching  and  baptizing ;  and 
we  suppose  that  at  this  time  the  work  of  the  mission- 
aries was  limited  to  the  maintenance  of  their  own 
religious  life  in  their  own  habitation,  and  to  public 
ministrations  in  the  privileged  Queen's  chapel. 

Some  relics  of  this  venerable  church  still  remain ; 
for  though  the  present  Church  of  St.  Martin  at 
Canterbury  is  a  building  of  much  more  recent  date, 
many  Eoman  bricks,  easily  recognised  by  their  dimen- 
sions and  texture,  are  used  in  the  building,  and  are  in 
all  probability  part  of  the  material  of  the  original 
Eoman-British  church  on  the  same  site. 


CHAPTEK   IX 

The  Success  of  the  Wokk 

We  come  now  to  a  series  of  interesting  events,  which 
it  is  important,  but  difficult,  to  arrange  in  chrono- 
logical order.  The  events  are  the  conversion  and 
baptism  of  Ethelbert,  the  consecration  of  Augustine, 
a  grand  baptism  of  ten  thousand  converts  one 
Christmastide,  and  a  letter  from  Gregory  to  Queen 
Bertha.  Bede  says,  in  the  26th  chapter  of  the  First 
Book  of  the  Ecclesiastical  History,  which  is  our  main 
authority  for  the  whole  story,  that  after  the  King  was 
baptized,  greater  numbers  began  daily  to  flock  together 
to  hear  the  Word,  and  were  united  to  the  Church. 
Then,  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  chapter,  he  says : 
"  In  the  meantime  Augustine  was  consecrated,  and 
sent  Laurentius  the  Priest  and  Peter  the  Monk  to  Eome 
to  acquaint  Gregory  that  the  nation  of  the  English 
had  received  the  faith,  and  that  he  was  himself  made 
their  bishop." 

Bede  says  nothing  of  the  baptism  of  the  ten  thou- 
sand, and  does  not  give  the  letter  to  Bertha ;  we  get 
these  incidents  from  the  Letters  of  St.  Gregory.  Now, 
these  letters  are  for  the  most  part  undated ;  they 
have  been  arranged  by  learned  editors,  who  have 
bestowed  much  learning  and  ingenuity  upon  the  task, 
in  a  chronological  order  which  is  probably  approxi- 


68  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

mately  right  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  but  which 
is  open  to  challenge  in  the  case  of  any  undated  letter. 
In  one  of  these  undated  letters,  which  the  editors 
assign  to  June,  598  A.D.,  addressed  to  Eulogius, 
Bishop  of  Alexandria,  Gregory  tells  him  the  glad 
tidings  that  a  monk  of  his,  whom  he  had  sent  with 
some  companions  to  the  nation  of  the  English,  and 
had  caused  to  be  made  a  bishop,  had  had  so  great 
a  success  that  he  had  on  the  previous  Christmas 
baptized  ten  thousand  souls. 

Gregory's  letter  to  Queen  Bertha  is  placed  by  the 
editors  among  a  batch  of  letters  which  were  sent  by 
Gregory  to  England  in  the  year  601.  Some  of  these 
letters  are  dated,  others  are  not ;  one  which  is  dated  is 
addressed  to  Ethelbert,  and  shows  that  Ethelbert  was 
at  that  time  a  Christian.  This,  which  is  not  dated, 
is  addressed  to  Queen  Bertha,  and  implies  that 
Ethelbert  was  not  a  Christian,  for  it  blames  his 
wife  for  it,  and  exhorts  her  to  use  her  influence  for 
his  conversion. 

The  difficulty  arises  in  this  way,  that  Bede  does 
not  give  us  dates  for  the  baptism  of  Ethelbert  and 
the  consecration  of  Augustine ;  and  though  he  men- 
'tions  them  in  this  order,  yet  the  "  meanwhile "  with 
which  he  introduces  the  last-mentioned  event  leaves 
it  doubtful  whereabout  in  the  preceding  narrative  it 
is  to  be  introduced,  whether  before  or  after  th.e  first- 
mentioned  event.  The  later  biographers  of  Augustine 
— Gocelin,  1098  A.D.;  Thorn,  1397  a.d.;  and  Elmham, 
1412  A.D. — were  monks  of  St.  Augustine's  monastery, 
and  give  the  tradition  of  the  monastery ;  and  they 
say  that  Ethelbert  was  baptized  on  Whitsunday 
597  A.D.,  and  Gregory  was  consecrated  on  November 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  WORK  59 

16th  of  the  same  year;  but  the  tradition  is  too  late 
to  be  of  much  authority  without  confirmatory  evidence, 
and  cannot  stand  against  any  contemporary  contra- 
dictory evidence.  On  a  review  of  the  whole  case,  we 
shall  take  leave  to  assume  that  the  order  of  events 
is — the  consecration  of  Augustine,  the  baptism  of 
the  ten  thousand,  the  letter  to  Bertha,  and  lastly  the 
conversion  of  Ethelbert;  and  on  the  last  two  points 
we  shall  have  more  to  say  when  they  occur  in  the 
narrative. 

Soon  after  Augustine's  return  thither  from  Eome, 
which  he  left  23rd  July,  596  a.d.,  the  Italian 
mission  started  from  Southern  Gaul.  They  would 
be  anxious  to  reach  their  destination,  there  was  no 
reason  for  delay,  and  it  was  a  good  season  of  the 
year  for  travelling.  Even  if  they  made  the  whole 
journey  on  foot,  three  months  would  be  sufficient  time 
for  its  accomplishment.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that 
they  arrived  in  the  course  of  the  autumn.  With  very 
little  further  delay  they  were  settled  in  temporary 
quarters  in  Canterbury,  resumed  their  monastic  life, 
and  commenced  their  mission  work. 

The  tradition  of  St.  Augustine's  monastery  was 
that  Augustine  was  consecrated,  16th  November  597. 
We  have  already  learned  from  Bedc,  in  general  terms, 
that  the  work  was  successful ;  we  suppose  that  by 
the  autumn  of  the  following  year  Augustine  felt  that, 
with  the  King  friendly  and  inchning  towards  Chris- 
tianity, though  not  yet  converted,  with  the  support  of 
the  Queen,  and  with  a  considerable  body  of  converts, 
he  had  secured  a  safe  and  permanent  footing  in  the 
island,  and  that  the  time  had  come  for  establishing 
the  Church  among  the  English  by  seeking  consecra- 


eo  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

tion  for  himself  as  its  bishop.  His  next  proceeding 
was  clearly  according  to  instructions  given  him  by 
Gregory,  though  they  are  not  anywhere  recorded.  He 
proceeded  to  Gaul  to  seek  consecration  as  bishop  of  the 
new  Church  which  he  had  founded  among  the  English. 
He  did  not  seek  consecration  from  Liudhard  on  the 
spot,  and  he  did  not  go  to  the  nearest  Gallic  bishops, 
but  retraced  his  steps  across  the  whole  breadth  of 
Gaul  to  Aries,  and  there  received  the  episcopal  order 
at  the  hands  of  Virgilius.  It  is  clear  that  Gregory 
had  requested  Virgilius,  as  Metropolitan  of  Gaul  and 
Gregory's  representative,  to  act  in  this  matter.  In- 
deed, in  the  letter  to  Eulogius  of  Alexandria,  he  says 
expressly  that  the  Gallic  bishops  consecrated  by  his 
desire. 

The  monastic  biographers  gave  16  th  November 
597  as  the  date  of  Augustine's  consecration.  He 
must  have  hastened  back  if  he  was  present  at  the 
great  baptism  of  the  ten  thousand,  which  is  assigned 
by  the  editors  of  Gregory's  Letters  to  Christmas 
of  the  same  year.  This  great  triumph  of  the  faith, 
according  to  the  mediaeval  tradition,  did  not  take 
place  at  Canterbury,  but  in  the  river  Irwell,  some- 
where about  the  place  where  it  flows  into  the 
Medway,  and  therefore  denotes  the  successful  result 
of  some  special  work  by  the  missionaries  in  that 
neighbourhood. 

Gregory's  letter  shows  that  it  was  not  till  after 
Christmas  597  A.D.,  it  would  probably  not  be  till  the 
spring  of  598  A.D.,  that  Augustine  sent  two  of  his 
best  men — Laurence  the  Priest  and  Peter  the  Monk — 
to  Eome,  to  give  a  full  report  of  all  that  had  happened. 
It  was  on  the  return  of  these  messengers,  we  submit, 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  WORK  61 

that  Gregory  sent  the  letter  to  Queen  Bertha  (which 
has  been  placed  by  Gregory's  editors  among  a  batch 
sent  in  6  0 1  A.D.),  by  the  hands  of  Laurentius  the  Priest 
and  Mellitus  the  Abbot. 

It  was  part  of  the  wise  policy  of  Gregory  to  seek 
to  exercise  an  influence  over  sovereigns  through  their 
wives. 

It  was  still  a  characteristic  of  the  Teutonic  nations 
in  those  days,  as  it  was  in  the  earlier  times  of  Tacitus, 
that  their  women  were  highly  esteemed,  and  exercised 
a  great  social  influence.  We  need  not  go  beyond  the 
limits  of  our  own  Church  history  to  see  that  this 
esteem  and  influence  were  the  result  of  their  own 
virtues.  In  the  history  of  royal  and  noble  families  of 
the  English  kingdoms  of  this  period,  a  very  remarkable 
feature  is  that  so  many  of  the  women  were  not  only 
comparatively  educated,  refined,  and  religious,  but  also 
of  great  force  of  character  and  strength  of  principle. 
It  is  enough  to  point,  in  illustration  of  it,  to  the 
considerable  number  of  double  monasteries,  in  which 
learning,  art,  civilisation,  and  religion  flourished  under 
the  administration  of  royal  and  noble  abbesses.  Another 
remarkable  feature  of  the  history  is  the  influence 
which  queens  actually  exercised  in  the  introduction 
of  the  Church  into  the  English  kingdoms — Bertha 
into  Kent,  Ethelburga  into  Northumbria,  Elfleda 
into  Mercia,  and  Ebba  into  Sussex.  Gregory  acted 
wisely,  therefore,  in  corresponding  with  Brunhilda  in 
France,  and  Theodelinda  in  Lombardy,  and  Constantia 
in  Constantinople  itself,  and  now  with  Bertha  in 
England. 

This  is  a  suitable  place  for  recording  the  little  we 
know   of  Ethelbert's   Frankish  Queen.     Her  parents 


62  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEKBURY 

were  Charibert,  one  of  the  four  grandsons  among 
whom  the  conquests  of  Clovis  were  divided,  and 
Ingoberga,  whose  name  indicates  a  Scandinavian 
parentage.  Charibert  was  a  man  of  intellectual  ability 
and  versatility  beyond  the  average  of  his  time.  He 
valued  the  Eoman  civilisation  of  his  Gallic  subjects, 
and  encouraged  its  extension  to  his  Franks.  He 
prided  himself  upon  his  mastery  of  the  Latin  language 
and  his  knowledge  of  Eoman  law,  and  his  skill  as 
a  judge.  He  was  less  favourably  distinguished  for 
the  Oriental  licence  which  he  assumed  in  the  matter 
of  wives  and  concubines.  He  reached  a  crisis  in  this 
respect  when  he  took  two  sisters — Mariovefa  and 
Merofleda — from  among  his  wife's  attendants  as  his 
concubines.  Ingoberga  tried  to  make  him  ashamed 
of  his  low  tastes,  by  allowing  him  to  find  their  father, 
a  mechanic,  engaged  in  some  work  of  his  trade  about 
the  palace.  Instead  of  shame,  the  tacit  rebuke  only 
led  to  anger  and  defiance.  Charibert  deserted  his 
Queen,  and  married  Mariovefa.  The  Bishop  of  St. 
Germains  excommunicated  them  both,  but  Charibert 
would  not  give  up  the  unlawful  connection.  Ingo- 
berga retired  to  Le  Mans  with  her  only  daughter, 
Bertha,  and  there  lived  a  life  of  rehgious  seclusion. 
Charibert  died  not  long  after  this,  in  575  A.D.,  while 
Ingoberga  survived  by  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
dying  in  594  a.d.  The  date  of  Bertha's  marriage  is 
not  known.  "When  Bede  says  that  Ethelbert  received 
her  "  a  parentihiis^'  we  cannot  safely  infer  that  it  was 
in  the  lifetime  of  her  parents,  because  the  phrase  may 
mean  from  her  relations.  We  must  not  always  take 
the  courtly  compliments  of  Gregory  too  literally,  they 
were  the  fashion  of  the  time ;  but  Bertha's  education 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  WORK  63 

and  training  by  her  saintly  mother  in  her  reKgious 
sechision  at  Le  Mans  may  well  have  entitled  her  to 
the  character  which  the  great  Bishop  gives  her  in  his 
letter — that  she  was  estabhshed  in  the  true  faith,  and 
well  instructed  in  learning. 

It  will  suffice  to  give  the  substance  of  Gregory's 
letter  to  the  Queen,  He  tells  her  that  Laurence  the 
Priest  and  Peter  the  Monk,  on  their  return  from 
Britain  to  Eome,  have  informed  him  how  great  have 
been  the  kindness  and  assistance  which  she  has 
bestowed  upon  his  very  reverend  brother  and  fellow- 
bishop,  Augustine,  and  that  he  has  returned  thanks 
to  Almighty  God,  who  has  graciously  condescended  to 
reserve  the  conversion  of  the  nation  of  the  Angles  as 
her  reward.  He  goes  on  to  tell  her  that,  as  through 
Helena  of  famous  memory,  the  mother  of  the  most 
pious  Emperor  Constantine,  the  hearts  of  the  Komans 
had  been  kindled  to  the  Christian  faith,  so  he  trusted 
that  God's  goodness  would  effect  the  same  results 
through  her  care  for  the  nation  of  the  Angles.  Then 
comes  a  sentence  which  proves  that  the  letter  is 
misplaced  among  those  of  601  A.D.,  and  induces  us  to 
transfer  it  pretty  confidently  to  this  place,  since  it 
seems  to  assume  that  Ethelbert  was  not  yet  a  Chris- 
tian, to  blame  his  wife  for  it,  and  to  urge  her  to 
undertake  his  conversion.  "And  indeed,"  he  says, 
"  long  since,  you  ought  to  have  inclined  the  mind  of 
our  glorious  son,  your  husband,  to  seek  the  safety 
of  his  own  soul  and  of  the  kingdom,  to  embrace  the 
faith  which  you  adore,  so  that  there  might  be  joy  in 
heaven  over  his  conversion  and  that  of  the  whole 
nation,  and  reward  to  you " ;  and  adds  that,  "  seeing 
she    was    established    in    the    true    faith,    and    well 


64  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

endowed  with  learning,  this  ought  not  to  be  a  long 
or  difficult  work ;  but  since  now  by  God's  will  the 
time  is  suitable,  make  up  by  increased  exertion  for 
the  past  neglect."  The  letter  itself  states  that  it 
was  written  after  Laurence  and  Peter  had  arrived 
in  Eome,  who  were  sent  by  Augustine  to  acquaint 
Gregory  "  that  the  nation  of  the  English  had  received 
the  faith  of  Christ,  and  that  he  himself  was  made 
their  bishop."  The  only  way  of  explaining  the 
matter  seems  to  be  that  the  letter  to  Bertha  was 
sent  back  at  once  by  Laurence  and  Peter  in  597  A.D., 
not  by  Laurence  and  Mellitus  in  601  A.D. ;  and  that 
the  announcement  that  "  the  nation  of  the  English 
had  received  the  faith  of  Christ"  did  not  include 
the  King,  but,  on  the  contrary,  purposely  omitted 
his  name;  and  that  the  letter  to  Bertha  has  been 
assigned  to  the  later  date  in  error.  Eeturning  to  the 
letter,  Gregory  goes  on  to  urge  the  Queen  :  "  Therefore, 
by  constant  persuasion  strengthen  the  mind  of  your 
glorious  husband  in  the  love  of  the  Christian  faith, 
let  your  solicitude  for  him  infuse  increase  of  love  to 
God,  and  so  kindle  his  mind  and  the  minds  of  those 
subject  to  him  with  the  fullest  conversion,  that  both 
he  may  offer  a  great  sacrifice  to  Almighty  God  through 
the  earnestness  of  your  devotion,  and  that  those  things 
which  are  told  of  you  may  grow  and  be  every  way 
approved.  For  your  good  deeds  have  come  to  be 
known  not  only  to  us  Eomans,  but  to  many  places, 
and  even  to  Constantinople  and  to  the  most  serene 
Prince  (viz.  the  Eastern  Emperor) ;  so  that  not  only 
Christians  rejoice,  but  there  is  joy  among  the  angels 
in  heaven."  He  concludes  by  commending  the  afore- 
mentioned, his  very  reverend  brother  and  fellow-bishop 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  WORK  65 

and  the  servants  of  God,  "  whom  we  have  sent  with 
him  for  the  conversion  of  your  nation,"  and  hopes  that 
she  may  reign  happily  with  her  glorious  husband,  and 
after  many  years  receive  the  joys  of  the  future  life 
which  knows  no  end. 


CHAPTEE    X 

Gregoky's  Instructions 

Gregory  also  sent  back  by  Laurence  and  Peter  a  long 
letter  to  Augustine,  in  reply  to  questions  which  the 
quondam  prior  had  submitted  to  his  quondam  abbot. 
It  is  not  the  only  evidence  that,  so  long  as  he  lived, 
Gregory  took  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
English  mission,  and  that  Augustine  dutifully  received 
the  counsels  and  reproofs  of  his  old  master.  Gregory's 
replies  embody  Augustine's  questions ;  it  will  suffice 
to  make  some  extracts  from  the  Letters. 

"  1.  Concerning  bishops,  how  are  they  to  behave 
themselves  towards  their  clergy  ?  Into  how  many 
portions  are  the  things  given  by  the  faithful  to  the 
altar  to  be  divided  ?  and  how  is  the  bishop  to  act 
in  the  church  ?  " 

Gregory  answers  : — 

"  Holy  Scripture,  and  especially  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  answers  the  question.  But  it  is  the  custom  of 
the  Apostolic  See  to  prescribe  this  rule  to  all  bishops, 
newly  ordained,  that  all  the  stipend  which  accrues 
should  be  divided  into  four  portions — one  for  the 
bishop  and  his  family,  for  hospitality  and  main- 
tenance, another  to  the  clergy,  a  third  to  the  poor, 
and  the  fourth  for  the  repair  of  churches.  But  since 
your    Fraternity    was    brought    up    under    monastic 

66 


GREGORY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  67 

rules,  it  does  not  become  you  to  live  apart  from  your 
clergy  iii  the  Church  of  the  English,  which,  by  God's 
help,  has  lately  been  brought  to  the  faith ;  you  are  to 
follow  that  course  of  life  which  our  fathers  did  in  the 
infant  Church,  when  none  of  them  said'  that  anything 
which  he  possessed  was  his  own,  but  all  things  were 
in  common  to  them." 

[In  Letters  of  Gregory  there  is  inserted  here  another 
question :  "  I  desire  to  know  whether  clerics  who  can- 
not be  continent  may  marry,  and  if  they  marry, 
whether  they  ought  to  return  to  the  world."  To 
which  there  is  the  same  answer  which  we  find  in 
Bede]  :— 

"  If  there  are  any  clerics,  not  in  holy  orders,  who 
cannot  live  continent,  they  should  take  wives  and 
receive  their  stipends  outside  (the  community), 
because  we  know  it  is  written  in  the  authorities 
above  mentioned,  that  distribution  was  made  to  every 
man  according  to  his  need.  Their  stipends  are 
therefore  to  be  cared  for  and  provided,  and  they  are 
to  be  kept  under  ecclesiastical  rules,  that  they  may 
live  orderly  and  attend  to  singing  of  Psalms,  and,  by 
the  help  of  God,  keep  their  hearts  and  tongues  and 
bodies  from  all  unlawful  things.  But  for  those  living 
in  common,  why  need  we  say  anything  about  assign- 
ing portions,  or  maintaining  hospitality,  or  fulfilling 
works  of  mercy,  since  everything  beyond  your  needs  is 
to  be  expended  in  pious  and  religious  works,  and  since 
our  Lord  and  Master  says  as  to  all  which  remains, 
'  Give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye  have,  and  behold  all 
things  are  clean  to  you '  (Luke  xi.  41) '  ? " 

Augustine's  second  question : — "  2.  Since  the  faith  is 
one,  why  are  the  customs  of  the  Churches  different — 


68  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

one  use  of  the  mass  exists  in  the  Eoman  Church,  and 
another  is  observed  in  the  Churches  of  Gaul  ? " 
Answer  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory : — 
"  Your  Fraternity  knows  the  use  of  the  Roman 
Church,  in  which  you  remember  you  were  brought 
up ;  but  it  seems  good  to  me  that  if  you  have  found 
anything  in  the  Roman  or  Gallican,  or  any  other 
Church,  which  may  be  more  acceptable  to  Almighty 
God,  you  should  carefully  select  it,  and  introduce 
into  the  Church  of  the  English,  which  is  still  new 
in  the  faith,  whatsoever  you  can  gather  from  the 
several  Churches.  For  things  are  not  to  be  loved  for 
the  sake  of  places,  but  places  for  the  sake  of  things. 
From  them  choose  things  which  are  pious,  religious, 
and  right,  and,  having  collected  them  into  one  packet 
(fasciculum),  place  them  in  the  minds  of  the  English 
as  their  use. 

Augustine's  third  question  : — "  3.  I  pray  you  to  in- 
form me  what  he  ought  to  suffer  who  shall  take  a 
thing  from  the  Church  by  theft." 

Answer  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory : — 
"  It  depends  upon  the  person  who  has  committed  the 
theft ;  for  some  steal  who  are  not  in  need,  and  some  steal 
through  want.  Therefore  some  must  be  punished  by 
fine,  and  some  by  stripes,  some  with  greater  severity,  and 
some  more  mildly.  And  when  greater  severity  is  used, 
it  is  to  proceed  from  charity,  not  from  anger,  for  this  is 
done  to  him  who  is  corrected,  lest  he  be  delivered  up 
to  hell.  .  .  .  You  may  add  that  they  ought  to  restore 
those  things  which  they  have  stolen  from  the  Church, 
but  far  be  it  from  the  Church  to  receive  profit  from 
those  things  which  she  seemed  to  lose,  and  seek  gain 
out  of  her  losses." 


GREGORY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  69 

To  the  fourth  question,  whether  two  brothers  may- 
marry  two  sisters,  Gregory  answered,  "  There  is  nothing 
in  Scripture  which  seems  to  forbid  it." 

Augustine's  fifth  question : — "  5.  To  what  degree  may 
the  faithful  marry  their  kindred,  and  whether  it  is  lawful 
for  men  to  marry  their  stepmothers  and  cousins  ? " 

Answer  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory : — 

"  A  law  of  the  Eoman  commonwealth  permits  cousins 
to  marry,  but  we  have  found  by  experience  that  the  off- 
spring of  such  wedlock  cannot  thrive;  and  the  divine  law 
forbade  a  cousin  to  uncover  the  nakedness  of  his  kindred 
(Lev.  xviii.  6,  7) ;  hence  they  must  be  of  the  third  or 
fourth  generation  of  the  faithful  who  can  lawfully  join 
in  matrimony.  To  marry  one's  mother-in-law  is  a  hein- 
ous crime,  because  it  is  forbidden  in  the  law.  It  is  also 
prohibited  to  marry  a  sister-in-law,  for  the  same  reason. 

"  But  since  there  are  many  of  the  English  who, 
whilst  still  in  unbelief,  are  said  to  have  been  joined 
in  this  wicked  union,  when  they  come  to  the  faith 
they  are  to  be  admonished  that  they  abstain,  and  be 
made  to  know  that  this  is  a  grievous  sin.  Let  them 
fear  the  dreadful  judgment  of  God,  lest,  for  the 
gratification  of  their  carnal  appetites,  they  incur  the 
torments  of  eternal  punishment.  Yet  they  are  not 
on  this  account  to  be  deprived  of  the  communion  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  lest  we  should  seem  to 
avenge  upon  them  the  things  which  any  did  through 
ignorance  before  they  had  received  baptism.  For  at 
this  time  the  holy  Church  chastises  some  things 
through  zeal,  and  connives  at  and  endures  others 
through  discretion,  so  that  by  this  forbearance  and 
connivance  she  may  often  suppress  the  evil  which 
she  disapproves.     But  all  that  come  to  the  faith  are 


70  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

to  be  admonished  not  to  do  such  crimes,  and  if  any 
shall  be  guilty  of  them,  they  are  to  be  excluded  from 
the  communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ. 
For  as  the  offence  is,  in  some  measure,  to  be  tolerated 
in  those  who  do  it  through  ignorance,  so  it  is  to  be 
severely  punished  in  those  who  do  not  fear  to  sin 
knowingly." 

Augustine's  sixth  question: — "6.  Whether  a  bishop 
may  be  ordained  without  other  bishops  being  present, 
in  case  there  is  so  great  a  distance  between  them  that 
they  cannot  easily  assemble  ? " 

Answer  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory : — 
"  As  for  the  Church  of  the  English,  in  which  you  are 
as  yet  the  only  bishop,^  you  can  no  otherwise  ordain  a 
bishop  but  in  the  absence  of  other  bishops.  When 
bishops  come  over  from  Gaul,  they  may  be  present  to  you 
as  witnesses  in  ordaining  a  bishop.  But  we  wish  your 
Fraternity  so  to  ordain  bishops  in  England  that  they 
shall  be  separated  by  as  short  an  interval  as  possible, 
.  .  .  and  when  this  shall  be  the  case,  then  no  bishop  is 
to  be  ordained  without  the  presence  of  three  or  four 
bishops.  .  .  ." 

Augustine's  seventh  question : — "  7.  How  are  we  to 
deal  with  the  bishops  of  France  and  Britain  ? " 
Answer  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory : — 
"  We  give  you  no  authority  over  the  bishops  of 
France,  because  the  Bishop  of  Aries  received  the  pall 
in  ancient  times  from  my  predecessors,  and  we  are  not 
to  deprive  him  of  the  authority  which  he  has  received. 
Augustine  may  point  out  faults,  etc.,  to  the  Bishop 
of  Aries,  but  not  attempt  to  exercise  jurisdiction. 

^  This  seems  to  imply  that  Liudhard  had  returned  to  Gaul  or  was 
dead. 


GEEGORY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  71 

"  But  as  for  all  the  bishops  of  Britain  we  commit 
them  to  your  care,  that  the  unlearned  may  be  taught, 
the  weak  strengthened  by  persuasion,  and  the  per- 
verse corrected  by  authority." 

The  eighth  and  ninth  questions  contain  some 
matters  with  which  it  is  not  expedient  to  deal  here ; 
it  may  suffice  to  say  that  they  imply  that  it  was 
then  the  custom  for  women  to  come  to  church  to 
return  thanks  after  childbirth,  and  Gregory  cites  the 
Old  Testament  custom  as  to  the  time,  but  says  that 
she  sins  not  if  she  comes  earlier ;  and  that  a  child 
may  be  baptized  the  very  hour  it  is  born. 

These  questions  and  answers  need  a  few  observations. 
The  rule  of  fourfold  division  of  the  Church's  revenues, 
which  Gregory  says  was  that  laid  down  by  the  Eoman 
See,  would  no  doubt  be  adopted  by  Augustine  in  the 
churches  to  which  he  gave  law ;  but  there  is  no 
evidence  that  this  rule  was  adopted  by  the  churches 
afterwards  founded  by  the  Celtic  missionaries. 

The  "  clerks,  not  in  holy  orders,"  would  be  those  in 
minor  orders,  subdeacons,  etc. 

The  difference  between  the  Eoman  and  Galilean 
Liturgies  arose  from  the  fact  that  they  belonged  to 
different  families  of  the  primitive  liturgies,  the  one 
to  that  known  as  the  Eoman  Liturgy,  or  the  Liturgy 
of  St.  Peter,  the  other  to  that  known  as  the  Ephesine 
Liturgy,  or  the  Liturgy  of  St.  John.  The  breadth  of 
view  which  dictated  Gregory's  direction  to  Augustine 
to  select  from  every  Church  that  which  was  best,  and 
compile  a  Liturgy  for  the  English,  is  characteristic 
of  the  man  who  himself  revised  the  Eoman  Liturgy, 
and  introduced  new  features  into  it.  What  Augustine 
did  in  the  matter  is  not  accurately  known.     He  would 


72  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

find  Liudhard  using  the  Galilean  Liturgy  in  St.  Martin's, 
and  if  he  made  inquiry  he  would  learn  that  the  British 
Church  was  using  a  Liturgy  of  the  same  family,  but 
with  some  minor  differences,  and  it  seems  probable  that 
he  would  adhere  mainly  to  that  to  which  he  and  his 
monks  were  accustomed,  seeing  that  his  English  con- 
verts would  have  no  preference  for  one  above  another. 

Gregory's  decisions  on  the  laws  of  marriage  are 
liable  to  dispute.  It  is  curious  to  find  that  people 
were  puzzled  then,  as  some  people  still  are,  by  the 
problem  whether  two  brothers  may  marry  two  sisters. 
Gregory's  answer  is  perfectly  right  — "  There  is 
nothing  in  Scripture  against  it."  Let  A  and  B  be 
the  two  brothers,  and  X  and  Y  the  two  sisters.  If 
A  marry  X,  then  B,  who  is  A's  brother,  is  also  X's 
brother,  because  A  and  X  have  become  one,  but 
there  is  no  relationship  between  B  and  Y ;  therefore 
B  and  Y  may  lawfully  marry. 

In  the  second  case,  Gregory  decides  that  cousins 
may  not  marry,  and  quotes  Scripture  as  prohibiting 
it;  but  all  the  prohibitions  in  the  chapter  from 
which  he  quotes  are  within  the  third  degree  of 
relationship,  and  cousinship  is  in  the  fourth  degree; 
therefore  by  the  divine  law,  as  well  as  the  law  of 
the  Empire,  cousins  might  marry.  Gregory  reckons 
cousinship  in  the  second  degree;  but  that  depends 
upon  the  way  of  reckoning.  Gregory  reckons  by 
generations : — children  are  in  the  first  generation  and 
first  degree  of  relationship,  cousins  in  the  second 
generation,  and  therefore  in  the  second  degree  of 
relationship.  But  the  Bible  way  of  reckoning  re- 
lationship is  through  the  common  ancestor,  each  step 
up  and  down  being  counted.     Thus,  A  is  the  father  of 


GREGORY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  73 

B  and  C,  D  and  E  are  the  children  of  B  and  C 
respectively ;  then  to  reckon  the  relationship  between 
D  and  E,  D  to  B  is  one  step,  B  to  A  a  second,  A 
to  C  a  third,  and  C  to  E  a  fourth;  therefore  D  and  E 
are  outside  the  forbidden  degree. 

A 


I  I 

B  C 


His  error  is  the  beginning  of  the  fashion  of 
multiplying  disabilities,  which  reached  such  a  height 
at  last  that  it  necessitated  a  multitude  of  dispensa- 
tions, and  made  the  way  for  a  multitude  of  divorces, 
on  the  ground  that  the  marriage  had  been  within 
forbidden  degrees,  and  therefore  null  and  void  from 
the  beginning. 

The  prohibition  of  a  man's  marriage  with  his  step- 
mother or  his  deceased  wife's  sister  is  of  course 
scriptural ;  what  needs  remark  is  that  Gregory  seems 
at  first  sight  to  say  that  they  who  contract  such 
marriages  before  conversion  are  not  to  be  deprived 
of  holy  communion  on  account  of  them ;  as  if  the 
Church  connived  at  the  violation  of  its  laws.  But 
what  he  probably  means  is  that  the  imlawful  con- 
nection is  to  be  broken  off,  but  that  those  who 
entered  into  it  are  not  to  be  subjected  to  a  long 
period  of  penitential  abstinence  from  holy  communion 
such  as  would  be  prescribed  to  a  Christian  who 
should  so  break  the  divine  law. 

The  decision  on  consecration  is  sound  and  sensible. 
The  canon  of  the  Council  of  Nicaea  directed  that 
three  bishops  should  assist  at  a  consecration,  for  the 


74  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEKBURY 

honour  of  the  rite,  and  for  the  greater  security  of 
its  vaHdity;  but  the  Church  has  always  held  that 
consecration  by  one  bishop  is  valid.  What  Gregory 
says  is,  that  where  no  more  are  to  be  had,  as  in 
Augustine's  circumstances,  he  need  have  no  conscien- 
tious scruple  about  consecrating  alone. 

A  rather  remarkable  passage  in  this  letter,  in 
which  Gregory  speaks  of  a  visit  of  Augustine  to  Gaul, 
and  contemplates  his  acting  in  consort  with  Virgilius 
of  Aries,  in  the  correction  of  abuses  among  the  clergy 
there,  is  made  more  important  by  the  fact  that  there 
exists  a  letter  to  Virgilius  on  the  same  subject.  He 
says  to  Virgilius :  "  If  our  common  brother.  Bishop 
Augustine,  shall  happen  to  come  to  you,  I  desire  that 
your  love  will,  as  is  becoming,  receive  him  so  kindly 
and  affectionately  that  he  may  be  supported  by  the 
honour  of  your  consolation,  and  others  be  informed 
how  brotherly  love  is  to  be  cultivated.  And  since 
it  often  hajjpens  that  those  who  are  at  a  distance 
sooner  than  others  understand  the  things  that  need 
correction,  if  any  crimes  of  priest  or  others  shall  be 
laid  before  you,  you  will,  in  conjunction  with  him, 
sharply  inquire  into  the  same.  And  do  you  both  act 
so  strictly  and  carefully  against  those  things  which 
offend  God  and  provoke  His  wrath,  that,  for  the 
amendment  of  others,  the  punishment  may  fall  upon 
the  guilty,  and  the  innocent  may  not  suffer  an  ill 
name." — Dated  June  22,  601  a.d. 

The  suggestion  to  one  bishop  to  interfere  with 
another  bishop's  discipline  over  his  clergy,  and  to  the 
latter  bishop  to  admit  the  interference,  seems  strange. 
We  are  inclined  to  suspect  that  in  the  phrase,  "  the 
crimes  of  priests,  or  others"  Gregory  means  priests  or 


GEEGORY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  75 

bishops,  and  that  the  particular  crime  he  has  in  mind 
is  that  of  simony.  We  know  from  the  History  of 
Gregory  of  Tours,  that  the  wealthy  and  powerful 
bishoprics  of  Gaul  were  beginning  to  be  sought  by 
Franks,  and  the  Frank  kings  were  beginning  to 
nominate  to  them  men  totally  unfit,  as  rewards  for 
service  or  gifts  of  favour,  and  that  gross  simony  was 
becoming  common.  Gregory  had  much  at  heart  at 
this  time  to  get  a  Gallic  synod  summoned  under  the 
presidency  of  Syagrius,  to  correct  these  abuses;  it 
seems  probable  that  he  had  sent  some  verbal  com- 
munication to  Augustine  as  to  his  possible  assistance 
in  the  matter,  and  that  the  letter  to  Virgilius  was  to 
inform  him  that  Augustine  had  Gregory's  authority 
for  co-operating  with  him. 

On  what  ground  Gregory  took  upon  himself  to 
place  under  Augustine's  authority  the  British  bishops, 
whose  position  was  quite  as  independent  as  that  of 
the  Gallican  bishops,  he  does  not  explain ;  and  the 
question  will  be  more  conveniently  considered  further 
on,  when  Augustine  took  steps  to  act  upon  this 
direction. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Establishment  of  the  Chukch  in  Canterbury 

The  conversion  of  Ethelbert  had  not  taken  place  till 
some  time  after  the  date  of  Gregory's  letter  to  Bertha, 
the  internal  evidence  of  which  assigns  it  to  the  year 
597  A.D.,  and  it  took  place  some  time  before  the  letter 
to  Ethelbert,  which  is  dated  22  nd  June,  a,d.  601. 
We  are  disposed  to  place  it  sooner  rather  than  later, 
within  these  limits. 

The  work  of  the  Church,  consolidated  and  stimulated 
by  its  possession  of  the  completed  episcopal  constitu- 
tion, and  encouraged  by  the  very  striking  success 
mdicated  by  the  baptism  of  the  ten  thousand,  would 
naturally  be  prosecuted  with  hopeful  energy.  From  the 
first  it  had  the  sympathy  of  the  King,  or  he  would  not  at 
once  have  given  the  missionaries  permission  to  preach 
and  make  proselytes.  We  can  easily  imagine  the  influ- 
ences which  would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  him — the 
teachings  of  Augustine,  added  to  those  of  Liudhard,  the 
powerful  influence  of  Bertha ;  and  we  can  believe  that 
he  had  abandoned  his  old  religion  and  its  practice 
for  some  time  before  he  took  the  final  step  of  declaring 
his  conversion,  and  submitting  to  baptism.  The  King 
had  to  think  of  the  opinions  of  his  chiefs  and  coun- 
sellors, and  of  the  disposition  of  the  mass  of  his  people ; 
and  to  give  them  time  to  reconcile  themselves  to  the  idea 

76 


THE  CHURCH  ESTABLISHED  IN  CANTERBURY  77 

of  the  new  order  of  things.  It  does  not  appear  that  Ethel- 
bert  took  the  step  which  King  Edmn  afterwards  took 
in  Northumbria,  of  formally  submitting  the  question 
of  a  general  change  of  religion  to  discussion  in  the 
Witan.  But  the  conversations  between  the  King  and 
Queen  and  the  two  bishops  would  often  take  place 
in  the  King's  hall,  in  the  hearing  of  those  who  sat 
at  the  royal  board  ;  and  whenever  the  King  finally 
declared  himself  convinced,  we  may  be  sure  that  others 
of  his  thanes  and  knights  and  wise  men  would  be 
ready  to  declare  their  concurrence  in  his  convictions ; 
and  when  the  King  was  baptized  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Martin,  they  would  follow  him  to  the  font.  That 
Whitsunday  was  chosen  for  the  great  ceremony,  as 
the  monkish  historians  affirm,  may  be  accepted  as  true, 
and  that  it  was  the  Whitsunday  of  5  9  8  is  a  probable 
statement.  Bede  expressly  says  that  "  after  the  King 
believed  and  was  baptized,  greater  numbers  flocked 
together  daily  to  hear  the  Word,  and,  forsaking  their 
heathen  rites,  were  joined  to  the  unity  of  the  Church  " ; 
and  that  "  the  King  so  far  encouraged  their  conversion, 
that,  while  he  compelled  none  to  embrace  Christianity, 
he  showed  more  affection  to  the  believers,  as  to  his 
fellow-citizens  in  the  heavenly  kingdom." 

Then  we  enter  upon  the  history  of  the  measures  which 
the  King  took  on  behalf  of  the  Church.  Among  other 
things,  he  allowed  Augustine  "  to  build  and  repair 
churches  in  all  places."  The  mediaeval  monks  of  St. 
Augustine's  say  that,  as  a  first  step,  Ethelbert  gave  to 
Augustine  a  building  in  which  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  practise  heathen  worship,  situated  between  the 
east  wall  of  the  city  and  the  Church  of  St.  Martin,  and 
that  Augustine  turned  it  into  a  church,  and  dedicated 


78  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

it  to  St.  Pancratius.  The  reason  given  by  Thomas  of 
Elmham  for  this  dedication  is,  because  it  was  the  sight 
of  the  English  boys  in  the  Eoman  Forum  which  caused 
Gregory  to  undertake  the  mission  to  England,  and 
that  Gregory's  Monastery  of  St.  Andrew's  was  built 
upon  the  patrimony  of  St.  Pancratius,  the  popular  boy 
saint  of  Eome.  We  know  how  exiles  of  all  times 
fondly  give  to  their  new  settlements  the  names  of  their 
old  homes ;  it  is  interesting  to  recognise  the  feeUng  in 
the  hearts  of  these  Eoman  exiles.  Their  first  monas- 
tary  they  dedicate  to  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  the  patron 
saints  of  Eome,  and  the  church  at  Eochester  to  St. 
Andrew,  and  this  chapel  to  St.  Pancras. 

We  learn  from  Bede's  trustworthy  History  that 
Ethelbert  "  gave  his  teachers  a  settled  residence  in 
his  Metropolis  of  Canterbury,  with  such  possessions  of 
different  kinds  as  were  necessary  for  their  subsistence." 
Hitherto  they  had  had  their  temporary  lodging  in  the 
building  in  the  Stable  Gate,  now  they  had  a  settled 
residence  assigned  to  them.  Thorn  says  that  the 
King  gave  them  his  own  palace  and  went  to  reside  at 
Eeculver,  where  he  built  himself  a  new  house  out  of 
the  Eoman  material  which  lay  ready  to  use  in  that 
ancient  Eoman  town.  The  mediaeval  monk  appears 
to  be  trying  to  establish  a  parallel  with  the  legendary 
story  that  Constantine  on  his  conversion  gave  up  his 
palace  to  the  Pope,  and  left  him  ruler  in  Eome  while 
he  went  and  built  himself  a  new  capital  at  Constan- 
tinople ;  but  as  the  latter  story  is  contrary  to  the  facts, 
so  the  former  is  unsupported  and  not  very  probable. 
Hitherto  the  King's  officers  had  supplied  the  strangers 
with  what  they  needed ;  now  the  King  endowed 
them  with  such   possessions  as  were   necessary.     In 


THE  CHURCH  ESTABLISHED  IN  CANTERBURY   79 

those  days  the  only  way  to  endow  a  man  or  a  cor- 
poration of  men  with  the  things  necessary  for  their 
subsistence,  was  to  give  them  land ;  the  "  possessions 
of  different  kinds "  may  be  an  obscure  statement  of 
what  we  know  was  the  case  in  other  early  ecclesiastical 
endowments  in  Kent ;  that,  together  with  cultivated 
land  in  the  east,  there  went  a  portion  of  the  forest 
land  in  the  west  and  of  the  marsh  land  in  the  south. 
It  is  the  first  instance  of  the  endowment  of  the 
English — as  distinguished  from  the  British — Church. 
It  was  probably  at  the  same  time  that  Ethelbert  gave 
to  Augustine  "  a  church  which  he  was  informed  had 
been  built  by  the  ancient  Roman  Christians,  which  he 
reconstructed  by  the  name  of  Christ  Church,  and 
there  established  a  residence  for  himself  and  for  his 
successors."  We  gather  that  the  house  given  to 
Augustine  and  his  monks  adjoined  or  was  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  this  ancient  church. 

We  have  the  great  good  fortune  to  possess  informa- 
tion enough  to  enable  us,  with  considerable  complete- 
ness and  accuracy,  to  restore  this  ancient  church ;  and 
this  is  the  more  interesting,  because  it  is  the  solitary 
instance  (if  we  except  the  doubtful  case  of  BrLx worth, 
North  Hants)  in  which  we  can  recover  in  its  entirety 
a  church  of  the  Eoman  British  period. 

The  description  of  the  building  occurs  in  the 
account  by  Eadmer,  the  chanter,  of  a  fire  which  greatly 
damaged  the  interior  in  1067  a.d.  Omitting  details 
which  belong  to  a  later  time,  this  is  his  description : — 
"  This  is  that  very  church  which  had  been  built  by 
the  Eomans,  as  Bede  bears  witness,  which  was  arranged 
in  some  measure  (in  quadam  parte)  in  imitation  of  the 
blessed   Prince   of  the  Apostles,  Peter."     Under  the 


80  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

east  end  was  "  a  crypt,  which  the  Eomans  call  a  Con- 
fession, the  upper  part  of  which  rose  above  the  level 
of  the  choir  of  the  singers  by  several  steps.  .  .  This 
crypt  was  made  beneath  in  the  likeness  of  the  con- 
fession of  St.  Peter,  the  vault  of  which  was  raised  so 
high  that  the  part  above  could  only  be  reached  by 
many  steps.  .  .  Thence  the  choir  of  the  singers  was  ex- 
tended westward  into  the  body  {aula)  of  the  church, 
and  shut  out  from  the  multitude  by  a  suitable  en- 
closure. ...  In  the  next  place,  beyond  the  middle  of 
the  length  of  the  body,  there  were  two  towers  which 
projected  beyond  the  aisles  of  the  church.  The  south 
tower  had  an  altar  in  the  midst  of  it,  which  was 
dedicated  in  honour  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory. 
At  the  side  was  the  principal  door  of  the  church, 
which,  as  of  old,  by  the  English  was  called  the  Suth- 
diire,  and  is  often  mentioned  by  this  name  in  the  law 
books  of  the  ancient  kings  ^ ;  for  all  disputes  from 
the  whole  kingdom  which  cannot  be  legally  referred  to 
the  King's  Court  or  to  the  Hundreds  or  Counties  do  in 
this  place  receive  judgment.  Opposite  to  this  tower, 
and  on  the  north,  another  tower  was  built  in  honour 
of  the  blessed  Martin,  and  had  about  it  cloisters  for 
the  use  of  the  monks.  And  as  the  first  tower  was 
devoted  to  legal  contentions  and  judgments  of  this 
world,  so  in  the  second  the  younger  brethren  were 
instructed  in  the  knowledge  of  the  offices  of  the  Church, 
for  the  different  seasons  and  hours  of  day  and  night. 

The  extremity  of  the  church  was  adorned  by  the 
oratory  of  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  which  was  so 
constructed  that  access  could  only  be  had  to  it  by  steps. 
At  its  eastern  part  there  was  an  altar,  consecrated  to 

1  See  a  learned  legal  disquisition  by  Selden,  Dee.  Script,  p.  42. 


THE  CHURCH  ESTABLISHED  IN  CANTERBURY  81 

the  veneration  of  that  Lady,  which  had  within  it  the 
heart  of  the  blessed  virgin  Austroberta.  When  the 
priest  performed  the  divine  mysteries  at  the  altar,  he 
had  his  face  turned  to  the  east  towards  the  people,  who 
stood  below.  Behind  him  to  the  west  was  the  pontifical 
chair,   constructed    with    handsome    workmanship,   of 


.n_  ^^  ,a. 


a 

D" 
D 
D 
D 

n 


a 
D 
n 
n 
a 
o 
□ 


v^ 


^ 


West. 

Baptistery  added  by  Archbisliop  Cuthbert. 

large  stones  and  cement,  and  far  removed  from  the 
Lord's  Table,  being  contiguous  to  the  wall  of  the 
church,  which  embraced  the  entire  area  of  the  building." 

Later  on  we  find  that  "  the  pillars  of  the  interior  of 
the  church  "  were  greatly  injured  by  the  fire.     . 

The  building,  therefore,  was  of  the  basilican  type, 
6 


82    .  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

with  a  body  and  aisles  separated  by  two  rows  of 
pillars.  Whether  these  pillars  carried  a  horizontal 
architrave,  or  a  series  of  arches,  we  cannot  be  sure, 
but  more  probably  the  latter.  It  had  the  remarkable 
feature  of  a  western  as  well  as  an  eastern  apse ;  the 
same  feature  appears  at  Trier,  and  only  in  three  or 
four  other  churches  in  the  Ehine  country,  viz.  Bem- 
burg,  Eothenburg,  Mainz,  and  Laach.  The  floor  of  the 
eastern  apse  was  raised  by  the  crypt  beneath ;  and 
it  is  very  interesting  information  that  this  crypt  was 
made  in  imitation  of  the  crypt  of  the  old  St.  Peter's  at 
Eome,  which,  with  that  of  St.  Paul,  was  the  great 
object  of  the  pilgrimages  of  the  northern  nations. 
Wilfrid's  church  at  Kipon  was  said  to  have  been  built 
upon  the  site  of  an  ancient  British  church,  and  has 
also  a  crypt,  which  was  perhaps  a  copy  of  the  same 
venerable  confession ;  and  Hexham,  also  one  of  Wil- 
frid's churches,  has  a  similar  crypt.  What  was  the 
cause  of  the  elevation  of  the  floor  of  the  western  apse 
we  are  not  told ;  but  it  is  probable  that  there  also  it 
was  occasioned  by  a  crypt. 

In  Eadmer's  time  there  were  altars  at  the  east 
end ;  one  built  against  the  wall  of  rough  stones  and 
mortar  by  Archbishop  Odo,  to  contain  the  body  of 
Archbishop  Wilfrid  of  York,  which  he  had  translated 
to  Canterbury ;  and  afterwards  another  altar  was 
placed  at  a  convenient  distance  before  the  aforesaid 
altar,  and  dedicated  in  honour  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
at  which  the  divine  mysteries  (in  Eadmer's  time)  were 
duly  celebrated.  But  the  archbishop's  throne  was  a 
handsome  stone  construction,  placed  in  the  middle  of 
the  semicircular  wall  of  the  western  apse,  and  the 
original  altar  would  be  placed  before  it  on  the  chord 


THE  CHURCH  ESTABLISHED  IN  CANTERBURY  83 

of  the  apse,  as  at  the  Lateran  and  at  St.  Peter's ;  and 
the  celebrant  would  face  eastward,  as  Eadmer  expressly 
says.  The  choir  was  an  elevated  platform,  carried  out 
from  the  chord  of  the  eastern  apse  into  the  nave,  and 
divided  from  the  nave  by  stone  screens. 

All  this  is  exactly  the  normal  plan  of  a  basilican 
church,  with  two  exceptions,  one  the  western  apse, 
and  the  other  the  consequence  of  it,  that  since  the 
usual  entrance  on  the  west  was  prevented  by  the 
existence  of  the  apse,  the  principal  entrance  was 
placed  on  the  south,  and  was  known  as  the  Stithdure 
(the  south  door) ;  apparently  the  entrance  was  through 
the  south  tower  door,  whose  lower  storey  formed  a 
porch  to  it.  These  flanking  towers  are  not  usual  in  the 
ordinary  basdican  church,  but  they  are  not  without 
parallel.  The  sixth-century  Church  of  St.  Apollinare 
in  Classe,  Eavenna,  has  a  lateral  tower.  There  is  a 
tower  at  Eochester  of  earlier  date  than  the  present 
cathedral,  which  probably  occupied  a  similar  position 
in  relation  to  the  coeval  church.  Exeter  Cathedral 
has  two  Norman  lateral  towers.  The  use  of  the  south 
tower  at  Canterbury  as  a  legal  court  is  very  inter- 
esting. Was  the  chamber  of  the  tower  used  as  a  record 
office  for  the  documents  of  the  court  ?  In  mediaeval 
times  the  south  porches  of  churches  and  the  chambers 
over  them  were  sometimes  similarly  used. 

Eadmer  speaks  of  the  cloister  as  if  it  were  a  part 
of  the  work  of  Augustine  in  adapting  the  Eoman 
Church  to  the  uses  of  his  mission;  the  monastic 
life  almost  necessitated  the  usual  buildings — chapter- 
house, refectory,  day-room,  dormitory,  arranged  round 
a  cloister  court.  They  may  have  been  at  first  of 
timber  only,  as  the  majority  of  the  Saxon  monasteries 


84  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

were,  or  Augustine  may  have  found  more  substantial 
material  in  the  debris  of  the  ruined  Eoman  buildings, 
as  Saxon  and  mediaeval  builders  did  in  Colchester 
and  other  Eoman  cities. 

This  reconstruction  of  the  building  helps  us  greatly 
in  the  endeavour  to  picture  the  scene  at  a  service : — 
the  tall  form  of  Augustine  seated  in  his  handsome 
stone  chair  at  the  west  end,  vested  in  planeta  and 
(to  anticipate)  pall ;  his  priests  on  a  raised  stone 
bench  on  his  right  and  left,  and  the  Italian  monks 
with  their  russet  robes  and  shaven  crowns  in  the  choir, 
singing  the  service  to  the  new  Gregorian  chants ;  the 
King  and  Queen  in  conspicuous  places ;  and  the  great 
aula  of  the  church  filled  with  countrymen  and  country- 
women of  the  English  slaves  who  had  touched  the 
great  heart  of  Gregory  in  the  Forum  of  Eome;  all 
saved  De  ird,  from  the  wrath  of  God,  and  singing  the 
Alleluia,  which  has  never  since  been  silent  in  the  land. 

During  all  these  proceedings  there  is  nothing  said 
of  Bishop  Liudhard ;  and  yet  he  must  have  taken  a 
conspicuous  part.  Even  if  he  restricted  himself  to  his 
special  duties  as  chaplain  of  the  Queen  and  her  house- 
hold, until  the  consecration  of  Augustine,  the  bishop 
must  have  celebrated  mass  in  the  Queen's  Chapel 
of  St.  Martin's.  It  would  be  unnatural  if  both  the 
Queen  and  her  bishop  failed  to  take  the  liveliest 
interest  in  what  was  going  on,  and  to  give  such  assist- 
ance as  their  position  enabled  them  to  give.  There 
existed  no  such  hindrances  to  cordial  co-operation 
between  Liudhard  and  Augustine  as  we  shall  find  did 
exist  between  Augustine  and  the  British  bishops. 
We  may  perhaps  account  for  the  silence  about  him  on 
the  ground  of  the  brevity  of  the  narrative,  and  the  fact 


THE  CHURCH  ESTABLISHED  IN  CANTERBURY  85 

that  Augustine  was  its  hero.  It  is  possible  that,  as 
soon  as  Augustine  was  made  bishop  of  the  now 
Christian  court  and  kingdom,  Liudhard's  services  being 
no  longer  necessary,  he  returned  to  Gaul ;  but  it  is 
much  more  likely  that  he  continued  to  act  as  the 
Queen's  chaplain  and  director  of  her  household  (see 
p.  164);  the  ancient  tradition  is  that  he  died  at 
Canterbury,  and  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  monastery 
claimed  to  possess  his  relics,  which  were  preserved  in 
a  golden  shrine  in  the  sanctuary,  and  carried  in  pro- 
cession on  Eogation  days.  There  is  another  tradition, 
that  from  the  time  of  Augustine  to  that  of  Lanfranc, 
there  was  a  series  of  suffragan  Bishops  of  St.  Martin's, 
which  seems  to  point  to  the  continuance  of  Liudhard 
at  St.  Martin's,  after  Augustine  had  restored  Christ 
Church,  and  set  up  his  See  in  it. 


CHAPTEE   XII 

The  Akrival  of  the  Second  Body  of  Missioners 

With  a  Christian  King  and  Queen  at  court,  with  a 
bishop  and  a  strong  staff  of  ecclesiastics  established 
in  their  permanent  home  in  the  capital,  and  with  a 
cathedral  church  in  which  the  divine  worship  was 
presented  with  solemn  dignity  and  beauty,  the  Church 
of  the  English  nation  began  to  present  an  imposing 
appearance  to  the  world  about  it,  and  the  number  of 
converts  rapidly  increased.  Our  own  recent  experi- 
ence has  given  us  occasion  to  note,  with  some  degree 
of  reverent  wonder,  the  practical  effects  of  the  intro- 
duction of  the  episcopate  among  a  handful  of  mission- 
aries, and  the  accelerated  success  of  a  completely 
organised  Church.  The  conversions  were  natural 
and  spontaneous,  for  Bede  expressly  says  that  the 
King  "  had  learned  from  his  instructors  and  guides 
to  salvation  that  the  service  of  Christ  ought  to  be 
voluntary,  not  by  compulsion."  But  throughout  the 
history  of  the  English  conversion  we  find  the  people 
ready  to  follow  the  example  of  their  natural  leaders ; 
and  while  the  princes  did  not  persecute  Christianity, 
but  readily  embraced  it,  so  they  did  not  exercise  any 
compulsion  upon  the  people  to  embrace  it,  but  only 
set  them  a  good  example. 

So  great  was  the  success  in  the  succeeding  years, 

86 


ARRIVAL  OF  SECOND  BODY  OF  MISSIONERS     87 

that  in  the  year  601  A.D.,  Augustine  sent  Laurence 
the  Priest  to  Eome  to  report  progress,  and  to  ask  for 
a  reinforcement  of  men,  since  the  harvest  was  so  great 
that  there  were  not  labourers  to  gather  it.  The  great 
Bishop  responded  to  the  appeal,  and  resolved  to  send 
a  second  group  of  monks  and  clerks.  How  many  we 
are  not  told,  but  Bede  gives  the  names  of  the  prin- 
cipal men  among  them,  Mellitus,  Justus,  Paulinus, 
and  Eufinianus. 

Of  the  thirty  or  forty  men  who  formed  the  original 
mission  staff  only  three  are  known  by  name — Laurence, 
who  succeeded  Augustine  in  the  See ;  Peter,  who 
was  made  the  first  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's  Monastery; 
and  Honorius,  the  fifth  and  last  of  the  Italian  dynasty. 
Of  the  new  body  of  men  now  sent,  Mellitus  was  an 
abbot  to  begin  with,  probably  the  Abbot  of  Gregory's 
Monastery  of  St.  Andrew,  and  he  was  soon  after  sent 
as  bishop  to  London,  Justus  to  Eochester,  Paulinus 
to  Northumbria,  and  Eufinianus  was  the  third  Abbot 
of  St.  Augustine's  Monastery.  We  conclude  that  the 
original  body  of  men  were  pious,  earnest  monks, 
admirable  in  the  cloister ;  but  that  there  was  a  lack 
of  men  of  "  Kght  and  leading  "  among  them ;  and  that 
on  a  hint  from  Augustine,  or  seeing  the  position  of 
things  for  himself,  Gregory  had  sent  him  some  men 
of  higher  type,  capable  of  initiating,  leading,  organis- 
ing, impressing  their  personality  upon  others. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  in  justice  to  the  monks, 
that  the  majority  of  them  were  probably  laymen, 
with  no  pretension  to  be  theologians  or  preachers  or 
missioners  in  any  other  sense  than  that  of  showing 
the  example  of  what  was  then  considered  to  be  the 
highest  phase  of  the  Christian  life, 


88  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

The  wise  Bishop  took  the  same  care  as  before  to 
make  the  journey  of  the  new  band  easy,  by  furnishing 
them  with  letters  of  introduction  all  along  their  route. 
Among  the  Letters  of  St.  Gregory  we  find  letters  to 
Mennas  of  Telona  (Toulon),  Serenus  of  MassiHa 
(Marseilles),  Virgilius  of  Arelate  (Aries),  Arigius 
of  Vapincum  (Gap),  Lupus  of  Cabillonum  (Chalons- 
sur-Saone),  ^therius  of  Lugdunum  (Lyons),  Desiderius 
of  Augustodunum  (Autun),  Aigulfus  of  Mettse  (Metz), 
Simplicius  of  the  Parisii  (Paris),  Melantius  of  Kotomagus 
(Eouen),  and  Licinius  [of  Andegavum  (Angers)  ?]. 

A  selection  from  these  names  carries  us,  as  before, 
from  Marseilles  up  the  Ehone  and  Saone,  then  to 
Paris,  and  so  down  the  Seine  to  Eouen ;  but  it  is 
difficult  to  account  for  some  of  the  other  places. 
Toulon  indeed  was  on  the  road  from  Marseilles  or 
Aries  to  Lerins,  whose  famous  monastery  was  visited 
by  Augustine  in  his  first  journey.  But  Gap  lies  a 
hundred  miles  to  the  east  of  the  Ehone,  up  among 
the  Alps.  Metz  was  still  further  out  of  their  way, 
but  it  was  the  usual  residence  of  Theodebert  the 
Austrasian  King,  as  Chalons  was  of  Theodoric.  Angers 
lies  hundreds  of  miles  away  in  the  west,  but  it  is 
to  be  noticed  that  Gregory's  letter  is  addressed  to 
Licinius  without  the  designation  of  any  place,  and 
though  Licinius  was  about  that  time  Bishop  of  Angers, 
it  is  possible  that  he  was  not  there  at  that  time.  On 
the  whole,  we  are  inclined  to  assume  that  the  route 
was  that  which  is  above  suggested,  by  the  Ehone, 
Saone,  and  Seine ;  and  this  is  supported  by  the  fact 
that  there  is  this  time — there  was  not  on  the  first 
journey — a  letter  to  Clothaire  the  King  of  Neustria, 
the  western  division  of  the  Frank  dominions.    It  must 


AERIVAL  OF  SECOND  BODY  OF  MISSIONERS    89 

be  noted  also  that  one  of  the  letters  is  addressed  to  a 
group  of  bishops,  namely,  those  of  Toulon,  Marseilles, 
Chalon,  Metz,  Paris,  Eouen,  and  (Angers  ?) ;  but  pro- 
bably there  were  separate  copies  of  it  addressed  to  each. 

There  are  two  subjects  dealt  with  in  most  of  these 
letters.  Gregory  was  very  desirous  of  getting  the 
Frank  sovereigns  and  the  bishops  with  whom  he  was 
in  correspondence  to  use  their  influence  to  summon 
a  synod  of  the  Galilean  Church,  to  take  measures 
against  the  simony  and  other  abuses  which  were  a 
mischief  and  scandal.  He  takes  this  opportunity  to 
urge  the  matter.  That  he  did  not  succeed  is  an 
illustration  of  the  absence  of  authority  and  even  the 
limited  influence  of  the  See  of  Eome  in  the  Gallican 
Church  at  that  time,  even  when  filled  by  a  man  of  so 
great  personal  qualities  as  those  which  commended 
Gregory  to  the  admiration  and  respect  of  the  Churches. 
The  other  topic  of  the  letters  is  the  commendation 
of  Laurence  and  MeUitus  to  the  good  offices  of  his 
correspondents. 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the  substance  of  the 
"  circular  letter,"  which  is  limited  to  the  one  subject 
which  specially  concerns  this  history. 

He  says :  "Though  the  duty  of  your  office  admonishes 
your  Fraternity  to  aid  religious  men,  and  especially 
those  who  are  labouring  for  the  good  of  souls,  yet  it  is 
not  superfluous  that  our  letters  should  stimulate  your 
soHcitude,  because,  as  fire  is  increased  when  fanned 
by  a  breeze,  so  the  earnestness  of  a  good  mind  is 
augmented  by  commendation. 

"  Since,  therefore,  by  the  co-operation  of  the  grace  of 
our  Eedeemer,  so  great  a  multitude  of  the  nation  of 
the  Angles  has  been  converted  to  the  grace  of  the 


90  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Christian  faith,  that  our  very  reverend  brother  and 
fellow-bishop  Augustine  declares  that  those  who  are 
with  him  are  not  suflticient  to  follow  the  work  into 
different  places,  we  are  sending  to  him  certain  monks, 
with  our  most  beloved  and  common  sons,  Laurence 
the  Presbyter  and  Mellitus  the  Abbot.  Will  your 
Fraternity  show  them  such  charity  as  is  proper,  and 
hasten  to  aid  them  in  whatsoever  they  may  need,  that 
while  they  may  have  no  cause  for  delay  they  may  be 
refreshed  by  your  kindness,  and  that  you  may  be 
found  partakers  in  their  reward,  for  your  aid  in  the 
work  in  which  they  are  engaged." 

The  letter  to  Theodoric,  King  of  the  Franks,  after 
exhorting  him  to  summon  a  synod,  goes  on  to  say : 
"  What  good  things  your  Excellency  did  to  our  very 
reverend  brother  and  fellow-bishop,  as  he  was  journey- 
ing to  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  certain  monks  return- 
ing from  him  have  informed  us.  Wherefore  returning 
abundant  thanks,  we  beg  that  to  the  present  monks 
also  who  are  sent  to  him,  you  will  condescend  to 
give  your  help  still  more  abundantly,  and  to  assist 
them  on  their  journey ;  so  that  the  more  your  kind- 
nesses are  extended  to  them,  so  much  the  more  you 
may  receive  a  greater  reward  from  the  Almighty  G-od 
whom  they  serve."  A  letter  of  similar  substance, 
though  differently  worded,  is  sent  to  Theodebert. 
Gregory,  writing  also  on  this  occasion  to  King  Clo- 
thaire,  tells  him  that  messengers  returning  from 
Augustine  have  informed  him  what  great  kindness 
the  King  had  shown  to  him  on  his  journey  to  Eng- 
land, and  begs  that  he  will  be  equally  kind  to 
Laurence  the  Priest  and  Mellitus  the  Abbot. 

In  his  letter  to  Queen  Brunhilda,  Gregory  thanks 


ARRIVAL  OF  SECOND  BODY  OF  MISSIONERS    91 

God  for  her  love  for  the  Christian  religion  and  the 
propagation  of  the  truth,  and  tells  her  that  fame  had 
not  been  sUent  about  the  favour  and  munificence 
which  she  had  shown  to  Augustine  when  proceeding 
to  England,  and  that  certain  monks  who  returned 
from  England  had  also  related  it  to  Gregory.  How 
many  and  how  great  miracles  our  Eedeemer  has 
worked  in  the  conversion  of  the  above  -  mentioned 
nation  is  known  to  her  Excellency,  at  which  she 
ought  to  rejoice,  because  it  is  partly  due  to  her  aid. 
He  goes  on  to  pray  that  she  will  the  more  graciously 
bestow  her  patronage  upon  the  monks  who  are  the 
bearers  of  these  presents  (whom  he  is  sending  to 
Augustine,  together  with  his  beloved  sons  Laurence 
the  Priest  and  Mellitus  the  Abbot,  because  Augustine 
says  that  those  who  are  with  him  are  not  sufficient), 
so  that  they  may  find  no  difficulties  or  delays ;  and 
tells  her  that  she  will  the  more  obtain  the  mercy  of 
God  towards  herself  and  her  grandsons  who  are  dear 
to  Gregory,  the  more  she  shall  for  His  love  show 
kindness  in  this  matter. 

By  the  hands  of  these  newcomers  Gregory  sent  to 
Augustine  the  honorary  distinction  of  the  pall,  and 
the  tenor  of  the  letter  which  accompanied  it  seems  to 
indicate  that  it  was  distinctly  intended  to  be  a  badge 
of  Metropolitan  jurisdiction.    The  letter  is  as  follows : — 

"  To  his  most  Eeverend  and  Holy  Brother  and 
Fellow-Bishop  Augustine  —  Gregory  the 
Servant  of  the  Servants  of  God. 

"  Since  it  is  certain  that  the  unspeakable  rewards 
of  the  eternal  kingdom  are  reserved  for  those  who 
labour    for   Almighty   God,  yet  it  is    requisite    that 


92  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

we  bestow  upon  them  the  advantage  of  honours,  to 
the  end  that  they  may,  by  this  recompense,  be  enabled 
the  more  vigorously  to  apply  themselves  to  the  care 
of  theii'  spiritual  work.  And  whereas  the  new  Church 
of  the  English  is,  through  the  goodness  of  the  Lord 
and  your  labours,  brought  to  the  grace  of  God,  we 
grant  you  the  use  of  the  pall  in  the  same,  for  the 
performance  of  the  solemn  service  of  the  mass  only  ;■ 
so  that  you  in  several  places  ordain  twelve  bishops, 
who  shall  be  subject  to  your  jurisdiction,  in  such 
manner  that  the  Bishop  of  London  shall  for  the  future 
be  always  consecrated  by  his  own  synod,  and  that  he 
receive  the  honour  of  the  pall  from  this  Holy  and 
Apostolical  See,  which  I  by  the  grace  of  God  now 
serve.  But  we  will  have  you  send  to  the  city  of 
York  such  a  bishop  as  you  shall  think  fit  to  ordain  ; 
yet  so  that  if  that  city,  with  the  places  adjoining,  shall 
receive  the  Word  of  God,  that  bishop  shaU  also  ordain 
twelve  bishops  and  enjoy  the  honour  of  a  Metro- 
pohtan ;  for  we  design,  if  we  live,  by  the  favour  of 
God  to  bestow  on  him  also  the  pall ;  and  yet  we  will 
have  him  to  be  subservient  to  your  authority ;  but 
after  your  decease  he  shall  so  preside  over  the  bishops 
whom  he  shall  ordain  as  to  be  in  no  way  subject  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  of  London.  But  for 
the  future  let  this  distinction  be  between  the  bishops 
of  the  cities  of  London  and  York,  that  he  may 
have  the  precedence  who  shall  be  first  ordained. 
But  let  them  unanimously  dispose,  by  common 
advice  and  uniform  consent,  whatever  is  to  be  done 
out  of  zeal  for  Christ ;  let  them  arrange  matters  with 
unanimity,  decree  justly,  and  perform  what  they  judge 
convenient  in  a  uniform  manner. 


ARRIVAL  OF  SECOND  BODY  OF  MISSIONERS    03 

"  But  to  you,  my  brother,  shall,  by  the  authority  of 
our  God  and  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  be  subject,  not  only 
those  bishops  you  shall  ordain,  and  those  that  shall 
be  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  York,  but  also  all  the 
priests  [sacerdotes,  may  mean  bishops]  in  Britain  ;  to 
the  end  that  from  the  mouth  and  lips  of  your  Holiness 
they  may  learn  the  rule  of  believing  rightly  and 
living  holily ;  and  so  fulfilling  their  office  in  faith  and 
good  conduct,  they  may,  when  it  shall  please  the  Lord, 
attain  the  heavenly  kingdom.  God  preserve  you  in 
safety,  most  reverend  brother. — Dated  the  tenth  of 
the  Kalends  of  July  [22nd  June]  in  the  nineteenth 
year  of  our  most  pious  Lord  and  Emperor,  Mauricius 
Tiberius,  the  eighteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of 
our  said  Lord,  in  the  fourth  indiction  [a.d.  601]. 


CHAPTEE  XIII 

The  History  of  the  Pall 

The  subject  of  the  pall  is  an  important  one  in  the 
history  of  our  English  Church.  This  ecclesiastical 
ornament  was  assuming  a  new  meaning  at  the  period 
of  which  we  are  writing;  and  the  gift  of  it  to 
Augustine  seems  the  very  point  at  which  that  new 
significance  was  definitely  attached  to  it  by  the  See 
of  Eome,  which  lasted  throughout  the  mediaeval  period 
of  the  Church's  history.  It  is  quite  worth  while  to 
bestow  some  time  and  pains  upon  it. 

About  the  time  of  Augustus,  the  toga,  which  had 
formed  the  usual  upper  garment  of  a  Roman,  was 
superseded  in  general  use  by  the  pallium.  The 
pallium  was  a  large  oblong  piece  of  woollen  fabric, 
like  the  robe  which  some  races  —  as  the  North 
American  Indians,  and  the  native  tribes  of  South 
Africa — still  wear  as  their  ordinary  outer  garment ; 
not  unlike  the  plaid  the  Gaelic  inhabitants  of  the 
northern  part  of  our  own  island  still  use. 

It  was  worn  in  various  ways.  Sometimes  it  was 
put  round  the  neck,  and  fastened  at  the  shoulder  by 
a  brooch  or  pin ;  sometimes  passed  over  the  left 
shoulder,  drawn  behind  the  back  under  the  right  arm, 
leaving  it  at  liberty  for  use,  and  thrown  again  over 
the  left  shoulder,  covering  the  left  arm ;  sometimes, 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PALL  95 

when  it  was  not  needed  for  warmth  or  shelter,  it  was 
folded  twice  or  thrice  lengthwise,  and  thrown  over 
the  shoulder.  A  man  permanently  engaged  in  active 
occupation  would  lay  aside  his  pallium  altogether. 
In  the  old  time  the  officials  of  the  State  were  distin- 
guished by  an  embroidered  toga — toga  pida,  and  when 
the  pallium  came  into  general  use,  an  embroidered 
pallium  equally  marked  out  the  officials  of  the 
Empire. 

But  the  pallium  also  went  out  of  fashion  in  its 
turn,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  planeta,  a  square  of 
woollen  material  with  a  slit  in  the  middle,  through 
which  the  head  was  passed,  and  the  garment  fell  in 
natural  folds  round  the  person.  It  still  survives  in 
Spanish  South  America  under  the  names  of  poncho 
and  seraph.  About  the  same  time  the  dalmatic 
came  into  use,  a  garment  shaped  and  fitted  to  the 
person,  like  a  short  and  broad  tunic,  with  short,  wide 
sleeves. 

But  officialism  would  no  longer  follow  the  vagaries 
of  fashion ;  a  civic  dignitary  still  wore  the  pallium 
as  a  badge  of  office ;  only  the  pall  was  reduced  to  its 
embroidered  hem ;  it  was  now  a  long  narrow  slip  of 
embroidered  material,  which  was  worn  in  a  peculiar 
way  about  the  shoulders.  John  the  Deacon  describes 
it  minutely,  as  it  was  worn  by  Bishop  Gregory.  It 
was  brought  round  from  the  right  shoulder  under  the 
breast,  reaching  down  to  the  stomach,  then  up  by  the 
left  shoulder  and  thrown  behind  the  back  ;  while  the 
other  end,  coming  over  the  same  shoulder,  hung  by  its 
own  weight  down  the  left  side.  This  exactly  describes 
the  pall,  as  we  see  it  represented  in  the  mosaics  of  the 
sixth    and    later    centuries    at    Eome    and    Eavenna. 


96  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

This  way  of  wearing  the  pall  was  a  preservation  of 
the  folds  into  which  the  embroidered  hem  of  the  old 
pallium  used  to  fall  when  it  was  an  actual  garment,  and 
continued  in  use  down  to  the  tenth  century.  About 
that  time  the  pall  was  for  convenience  made  up  in  a 
large  circle,  which  passed  round  the  shoulders,  with  two 
straight  pieces  sewn  on  so  as  to  hang  down  before  and 
behind.  It  was  a  much  less  graceful,  but  no  doubt  a 
much  more  convenient  arrangement,  and  this  continued 
to  be  the  form  of  the  pall  throughout  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  indeed  down  to  the  present  time. 

But  how  came  Bishop  Gregory  to  wear  it  ?  The 
Emperors  had  been  accustomed  to  give  honorary  dis- 
tinctions to  those  whom  they  desired  to  distinguish 
or  to  conciliate.  In  the  decay  of  the  Empire,  they 
had  conferred  the  title  of  Consul  and  Patrician,  not 
only  upon  distinguished  Eomans,  but  upon  Barbarian 
kings  and  chiefs ;  they  had  bestowed  the  pallium 
upon  lesser  people  of  various  kinds.  The  Bishop 
of  Kome  wore  it,  either  by  right  as  a  member 
of  the  magistracy  of  Rome,  or  it  had  been  granted 
to  the  See  by  some  early  Emperor.  We  are  told 
that  it  was  made  of  byssus,  fine  flax,  or  linen,  and 
it  appears  probable  that  he  wore  it  on  all  State 
occasions.  The  Bishops  of  Ravenna  also  claimed 
to  wear  it,  by  right  of  a  decree  from  Valentinian — a 
great  benefactor  to  the  Church  of  Ravenna — and  also 
to  wear  it  on  all  State  occasions.  For  in  the  time 
of  Bishop  John,  Gregory  endeavoured  to  restrict  his 
use  of  the  pall  to  the  time  of  celebration  of  the 
divine  service ;  and  when  the  patrician,  the  prefect, 
and  many  other  noble  citizens  of  Ravenna  interposed 
to  maintain  the  privileges  of  their  city,  Gregory  pro- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PALL  97 

fessed  to  have  satisfied  himself  by  inquiry  of  Adeo- 
datus,  formerly  a  deacon  of  Eavenna,  that  it  had 
been  customary  for  the  bishop  to  wear  it  only  on 
the  occasion  of  the  great  "  litanies,"  that  is,  pro- 
cessions ;  and  he  compromised  the  matter  by  sanction- 
ing its  use  on  the  solemnities  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
St.  Peter,  St.  ApoUinaris  (the  patron  saint  of  the  city), 
and  the  anniversary  of  the  bishop's  consecration.  One 
of  the  letters  of  Gregory  to  Desiderius,  Bishop  of 
Vienne,  shows  that  the  bishop  of  that  earliest  Church 
of  Gaul  had  applied  for  the  pall,  on  the  ground  that 
it  had  been  granted  to  his  See  in  ancient  times. 
That  it  was  the  first  Christian  Church  in  Gaul, 
might  have  been  a  title  to  such  distinction ;  Gregory 
does  not  dispute  the  possibility  of  it,  but  says  that  he 
can  find  no  document  relating  to  it  in  the  record 
chest  {armarium)  at  Rome,  and  asks  Desiderius  to 
cause  a  search  to  be  made  among  the  records  at 
Vienne. 

But  how  came  the  Bishops  of  Eome  to  confer  this 
distinction  upon  others  ?  There  is  a  doubtful  case  of 
the  gift  of  the  pall  by  Marcus,  Bishop  of  Eome,  to  the 
Bishop  of  Ostia  (the  official  consecrator  of  the  Bishops 
of  Eome)  in  336  a.d.  But,  putting  aside  this  isolated 
and  doubtful  case,  the  custom  of  the  gift  of  this 
honorary  distinction  by  the  Bishop  of  Eome  to 
bishops  began  in  the  sixth  century,  and  the  first 
instance  of  it  is  by  Symmachus  to  Theodore,  Arch- 
bishop of  Laureatus,  in  Pannonia  in  514  a.d.  In 
523  A.D.,  Vigilius  deferred  giving  the  pall  to  Aux- 
anius.  Bishop  of  Aries  (the  ancient  capital  of  Southern 
Gaul),  till  he  had  the  Emperor's  consent.  In  595,  at 
the  request  of  King  Childebert,  Gregory  sent  the 
7 


98  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBUEY 

pall  to  Virgilius  of  Aries.  In  597,  in  answer  to  the 
request  of  Queen  Brunhilda,  for  the  pall  to  be  given 
to  Syagrius,  Bishop  of  Autun,  Gregory  replies  that  it 
cannot  be  given  without  the  consent  of  the  Emperor. 

The  explanation  is,  that  the  municipal  government 
of  Eome  retained  the  great  name  of  the  Senate,  and 
affected  to  retain  the  ancient  rights  of  that  dis- 
tinguished body,  among  them  that  of  conferring  the 
honours  of  the  city  upon  illustrious  strangers ;  and  the 
Emperors  and  Gothic  kings  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
allowing  these  reminiscences  of  bygone  greatness. 
When  the  Koman  territory  threw  off  its  depend- 
ence upon  the  distant  Emperor  of  the  East,  the 
Senate  distributed  these  honours  without  asking  his 
permission.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  was  when 
the  Senate  conferred  the  title  of  Patrician  upon  Pepin 
and  his  sons  ;  and  one  still  more  momentous,  when,  on 
Christmas  Eve  of  800  A.D., it  assumed  to  elect  Charles 
as  Emperor,  and  thus  to  revive  the  lapsed  Empire  of 
the  West. 

Down  to  the  time  of  Gregory,  the  pall  was  nothing 
more  than  a  complimentary  badge,  conferred  upon  the 
occupants  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  Sees. 
Gregory  was  the  first  who  began  to  make  it  a  dis- 
tinctive badge  of  a  Metropolitan,  though  it  was  still — 
down  to  the  present  day — sometimes  conferred  on 
very  distinguished  Sees  which  were  not  Metropolitan. 
When  Pepin  had  endowed  Eome  with  his  Lom- 
bard conquests,  and  freed  it  from  subjection  to 
the  Eastern  Emperor,  the  Popes  granted  the  pall  on 
their  own  sole  authority. 

Very  soon  the  conferring  of  this  and  similar 
honours  was  made  use  of  to   help  to  build  up  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PALL  99 

authority  which  the  See  of  Rome  was  usurping  over 
the  Christians  of  the  West.  In  the  eighth  century  the 
honour  of  the  pall  was  conferred  upon  all  Metro- 
politans, and  (usually)  was  limited  to  them,  and  was 
made  a  token  of  the  formal  recognition  by  the  See 
of  Eome  of  the  accession  of  a  new  archbishop. 

Next,  it  was  claimed  by  Pope  Nicholas  I.  (a.d.  866), 
that  a  new  archbishop  was  not  fully  made  until  his 
appointment  had  been  confirmed  by  the  See  of  Eome, 
and  that  the  giving  of  the  pall  was  the  token  of  this 
confirmation. 

Lastly,  in  the  twelfth  century,  a  new  archbishop  was 
required  to  come  to  Rome  in  person  (or  with  special 
permission  to  send  an  agent)  to  do  homage  to  the  See 
of  Eome,  and  the  pall  was  made  a  badge  of  obedience 
to  the  See. 

Gregory  sends  the  pall  to  Augustine,  to  be  worn 
only  at  the  celebration  of  the  divine  service,  as  a 
token  of  metropolitical  dignity  and  jurisdiction.  The 
circumstances  suggest  that  the  gift  of  the  pall  to 
Augustine,  with  the  expression  of  an  intention  to 
confer  it  also  upon  the  contemplated  Archbishop  of 
York,  was  the  beginning  of  the  idea  of  limiting  it  in 
future  to  archbishops,  and  making  it  a  symbol  of  re- 
cognition by  the  Patriarch  of  the  West.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  never  sent  the  badge 
to  bishops  of  any  other  than  the  Western  Church  ;  and 
that  the  Eastern  bishops  all  wore  the  omophorion, 
which  in  shape  is  like  the  early  sixth  to  tenth 
century  form  of  the  pall,  and  possibly  had  the  same 
honorary  significance. 

Gregory's  plans  for  the  organisation  of  the  Church 
of  the  English  show  that  the  accounts  which  he  had 


100  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

received  of  Augustine's  success  had  filled  him  with 
sanguine  expectations  of  the  speedy  conversion  of  the 
whole  people ;  but  they  indicate  that  he  had  received 
little  definite  information  of  the  actual  condition  of  the 
country  and  its  inhabitants.  These  vague  symmetrical 
plans  for  the  organisation  of  the  whole  country  into 
two  ecclesiastical  provinces,  each  with  its  twelve 
bishops,  together  with  his  instructions  as  to  the 
treatment  of  the  British  bishops,  seem  to  imply  that 
Gregory  fancied  that  the  English  conquest  of  Britain 
resembled  the  Gothic  conquest  of  Italy  and  the  Frank 
conquest  of  Gaul ;  that  the  conquerors  were  a  homo- 
geneous people,  under  the  rule  of  Ethelbert  the  Bret- 
walda,  and  that  the  British  bishops  were  scattered 
here  and  there  among  the  conquerors  as  they  were  in 
Italy  and  France.  His  idea  seems  to  be  a  recon- 
struction of  the  old  Church  of  the  coimtry,  with  its 
old  chief  cities,  London  and  York,  as  the  metro- 
politan Sees,  with  the  surviving  British  bishops  and 
their  flocks  embraced  in  the  new  arrangements.  He 
could  not  have  understood  that  the  country  was  still 
divided  into  halves,  of  which  the  eastern  half  was 
English  and  the  western  haK  British ;  that  the  Eng- 
lish half  was  divided  into  eight  independent  kingdoms, 
each  of  which  must  be  dealt  with  separately ;  and 
that  the  ecclesiastical  organisation  must  perforce  arise 
out  of  the  national  divisions;  and  he  could  hardly 
have  realised  that  the  British  bishops  whom  he  com- 
mitted to  Augustine's  instruction  and  rule  were  the 
bishops  of  the  large  and  compact  population  of  half 
the  island,  still  unconquered  and  still  fiercely  fighting 
for  independence. 


CHAPTEE    XIV 
Gregory's  Letters,  to  Augustine  on  his  Miracles, 

AND  to  EtHELBERT 

Bede  assigns  to  this  same  period  another  letter  to 
Augustine,  which  it  will  be  convenient  first  to  put  on 
record,  and  then  to  comment  upon  it.  "  I  know,  most 
loving  brother,  that  Almighty  God,  by  means  of  your 
zeal  and  affection,  shows  great  miracles  in  the  nation 
which  He  has  chosen.  Wherefore,  it  is  necessary 
that  you  rejoice  with  fear,  and  tremble  whilst  you 
rejoice,  on  account  of  the  same  heavenly  gift,  namely, 
that  you  rejoice  because  the  souls  of  the  English  are 
by  outward  miracles  drawn  to  inward  grace ;  but  that 
you  fear  lest,  amidst  the  wonders  that  are  wrought, 
the  weak  mind  may  be  puffed  up  in  its  own  pre- 
sumption, and  as  it  is  externally  raised  to  honour, 
may  thence  inwardly  fall  by  vainglory.  For  we 
must  call  to  mind  that  when  the  disciples  returned 
with  joy  after  preaching,  and  said  to  their  Heavenly 
Master, '  Lord,  in  Thy  name  even  devils  are  subject  to 
us,'  they  were  presently  told,  'Eejoice  not  that  the  devils 
are  subject  to  you,  but  rejoice  rather  that  your  names 
are  written  in  heaven,'  etc.  ...  It  remains,  therefore, 
most  dear  brother,  that  amidst  those  things  which, 
through  the  working  of  our  Lord,  you  outwardly  per- 
form, you  always  inwardly  judge  yourself  strictly,  and 


102  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

clearly  understand  both  what  you  are  yourself,  and 
how  much  grace  is  in  that  same  nation,  for  the  con- 
version of  which  you  have  received  the  gift  of  working 
miracles.  And  if  you  remember  that  you  have  at 
any  time  offended  your  Creator,  either  by  word  or  deed, 
see  that  you  always  call  it  to  mind,  to  the  end  that 
the  remembrance  of  your  guilt  may  crush  tlie  vanity 
which  rises  in  your  heart.  And  whatsoever  you  shall 
receive  or  have  received  in  relation  to  working  miracles, 
see  that  you  consider  the  same,  not  as  conferred  on  you, 
but  on  those  for  whose  salvation  it  has  been  given  you." 

Gregory  does  not  dispute  the  miracles.  Their  occa- 
sional occurrence  was  generally  believed ;  but  while 
the  superstitious  accepted  marvellous  stories  with 
ready  belief,  the  wiser  minds  of  the  Church  had  long 
since  taken  up  a  more  cautious  and  critical  attitude 
on  the  subject.  Something  in  the  tone  of  Augustine's 
communication  of  the  supposed  miracles  had  roused 
the  fears  of  his  more  sober-minded  master,  that  he 
was,  like  some  of  the  Corinthians  of  old  (1  Cor.  xii. 
and  xiv.),  allowing  himself  to  be  puffed  up  with 
spiritual  pride  at  the  possession  of  this  supernatural 
power.  His  suggestion  is,  in  the  circumstances, 
admirable,  that  the  miracles  are  due,  not  to  any 
superior  excellency  in  him,  but  to  the  goodness  of  the 
people  which  calls  down  these  marks  of  divine  favour 
upon  them ;  the  admonition  is  severe,  to  take  care 
lest  the  weak  mind  be  puffed  up  in  its  own  presump- 
tion, and  fall  through  vainglory ;  and  the  advice 
excellent,  to  crush  down  the  vanity  which  rises  in  his 
heart  by  calling  to  mind  his  sins. 

Bede  cursorily  speaks  of  miracles  as  influencing  the 
first  conversions  among  the  people ;  and  we  shall  read 


GREGORY'S  LETTER  TO  ETHELBERT     103 

in  the  sequel  the  details  of  one  miracle  by  which 
Augustine  attempted  to  obtain  the  obedience  of  the 
British  bishops,  and  then  will  be  the  time  to  consider 
the  subject  a  little  more  closely. 

Gregory  at   the  same  time  sent  a  letter  to  King 
Ethelbert,  with  very  many  presents  of  various  kinds. 

"  To  the  most  glorious  Lord,  and  his  most 
excellent  Son  iEdelberet,  King  of  the 
English — Bishop  Gregory. 

"  The  design  of  Almighty  God  in  advancing  good 
men  to  the  government  of  nations,  is  that  He  may,  by 
their  means,  bestow  the  gifts  of  His  mercy  on  those 
over  whom  they  are  placed.  This  we  know  to  have 
been  done  in  the  English  nation,  over  whom  Your 
Glory  was  therefore  placed,  that,  by  means  of  the 
good  things  which  are  granted  to  you,  heavenly  bene- 
fits might  also  be  conferred  on  the  nation  that  is 
subject  to  you.  Therefore,  my  illustrious  son,  do  you 
with  a  careful  mind  preserve  the  grace  which  you 
have  received  from  the  divine  goodness,  and  hasten  to 
promote  the  Christian  faith  which  you  have  embraced 
among  the  people  under  your  subjection,  multiply  the 
zeal  of  your  rectitude  in  their  conversion,  suppress 
the  worship  of  idols,  overthrow  the  structures  of  the 
temples,  edify  the  manners  of  your  subjects,  and  pro- 
mote great  purity  of  life,  by  exhorting,  terrifying, 
soothing,  and  giving  examples  of  good  works,  that  you 
may  find  Him  your  rewarder  in  heaven,  whose  name 
and  knowledge  you  shall  spread  abroad  upon  earth. 
For  He  also  will  render  the  fame  of  your  honour 
more  glorious  to  posterity,  whose  honour  you  seek  and 
maintain  among  the  nations. 


104  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

"For  even  so  Constantine,  our  former  most  pious 
Emperor,  recovering  the  Eoman  commonwealth  from 
the  perverse  worship  of  idols,  subjected  the  same  with 
himself  to  our  Almighty  God  and  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  was  himself,  with  the  people  under  his  subjection, 
entirely  converted  to  them.  Whence  it  followed  that 
his  praises  transcended  the  fame  of  former  princes, 
and  he  as  much  excelled  his  predecessors  in  renown 
as  he  did  in  good  works.  Now,  therefore,  let  Your 
Glory  hasten  to  infuse  into  the  kings  and  people  that 
are  subject  to  you  the  knowledge  of  one  God — Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost — that  you  may  both  surpass  the 
ancient  kings  of  your  nation  in  praise  and  merit,  and 
become  by  so  much  the  more  secure  against  your  own 
sins  before  the  dreadful  judgment  of  Almighty  God,  as 
you  shall  wipe  away  the  sins  of  others  in  your  subjects. 

"  Our  very  reverend  brother  Augustine  is  skilled  in 
the  monastic  rule,  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Scripture,  and  by  the  help  of  God  endowed  with  good 
works ;  whatever  he  shall  counsel,  give  ear  to,  devoutly 
perform,  and  carefully  keep  in  memory ;  for  if  you 
give  ear  to  him  in  what  he  speaks  for  Almighty  God, 
the  same  Almighty  God  will  the  sooner  hear  him 
praying  for  you.  But  if,  which  God  forbid,  you  slight 
his  words,  how  shall  Almighty  God  hear  him  in  your 
behalf  whom  you  neglect  to  hear  for  God  ?  Unite 
yourself,  therefore,  to  him  with  all  your  mind  in  the 
fervour  of  faith,  and  further  his  endeavours  through 
the  help  of  that  strength  which  the  Divinity  gives 
you,  that  he  may  make  you  partaker  of  His  kingdom, 
whose  faith  you  cause  to  be  received  and  maintained 
in  your  own. 

"  Besides,  we  would  have  Your  Glory  know,  as  we 


GREGOKY'S  LETTER  TO  ETHELBERT  105 

find  in  the  Holy  Scripture,  that  the  end  of  this  present 
world  and  the  kingdom  of  the  saints  is  about  to  come, 
which  can  never  end.  But  since  the  end  of  the  world 
is  approaching,  many  things  are  at  hand  which  have  not 
previously  been,  as  changes  in  the  atmosphere  {immuta- 
tiones  aeris),  and  terrors  from  heaven,  unseasonable 
tempests,  wars,  famines,  plagues,  earthquakes  in  divers 
places ;  all  which  things  will  not  nevertheless  happen 
in  our  days,  but  after  our  days  they  will  all  come  to 
pass.  If  you,  therefore,  find  any  of  these  things 
happen  in  your  country,  let  not  your  mind  be  in  any 
way  disturbed ;  for  these  signs  of  the  end  of  the  world 
are  sent  before  for  this  reason,  that  we  may  be  solicit- 
ous for  our  souls,  expecting  the  hour  of  death,  and  be 
found  prepared  in  good  actions  to  meet  our  Judge. 
Thus  much,  my  illustrious  son,  I  have  said  in  few 
words,  to  the  end  that,  when  the  Christian  faith  shall 
increase  in  your  kingdom,  our  discourse  to  you  may 
also  be  increased,  and  we  may  be  permitted  to  say 
the  more  in  proportion  as  joy  for  the  conversion  of 
your  nation  is  multiplied  in  our  mind. 

"  I  have  sent  some  small  presents,  which  will  not 
appear  small  when  received  by  you  with  the  blessing 
of  the  holy  Apostle  Peter.  May  Almighty  God, 
therefore,  perfect  you  in  that  grace  of  His  which  He 
has  begun,  and  prolong  your  life  here  through  a  course 
of  many  years,  and  after  a  time  receive  you  into  the 
congregation  of  the  heavenly  country.  May  the  grace 
of  God  preserve  Your  Excellency  in  safety. — Dated, 
etc."  [22nd  June  601]. 

The  kind  of  presents  which  the  good  Bishop  sent  to 
Ethelbert  may  be  inferred  from  those  which  he  sent 
to   others.     To  Theodelinda,  the   orthodox  Queen   of 


106  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

the  Lombards,  he  sent  a  collection  of  sixty-five  holy 
oils,  from  the  lamps  which  burned  before  the  principal 
Koman  shrines,  each  in  an  ampulla,  decorated  with 
Scripture  subjects ;  to  Queen  Brunhilda  he  sent  a  key 
— perhaps  two  keys,  of  gold  and  silver — into  the 
metal  of  which  had  been  incorporated  some  filings 
from  the  chain  of  St.  Peter.  To  the  Empress  Con- 
stantina  he  says  that  it  is  not  permitted  to  comply 
with  her  request  for  a  portion  of  the  body  of  St. 
Peter,  but  proposes  to  send  her  instead  a  hrandeum 
in  pyxide,  which  probably  means  a  napkin  which  had 
touched  the  saintly  relic,  enclosed  in  a  round  ivory 
box,  carved  externally  with  Scripture  subjects.  Some 
such  things,  highly  valued  by  the  superstition  of  the 
time,  probably  composed  Gregory's  presents  to  the 
King. 


CHAPTEK    XV 

The  Beginnings  of  the  Library  of  the  English 
Church 

No  doubt  the  first  missionary  band  brought  with 
them  the  necessary  books  and  vessels  and  vestments ; 
but  again,  with  the  second  band,  we  are  expressly  told 
that  Gregory  sent  all  things  (universa)  which  were 
necessary  for  the  worship  of  the  Church,  viz.  sacred 
vessels  and  altar  vestments,  relics  of  the  apostles  and 
of  many  saints,  and  many  codices. 

Thomas  of  Elmham  describes  a  number  of  volumes 
then  preserved  in  the  monastery,  some  of  them  placed 
as  relics  near  the  altar,  which  were  believed  to  have 
been  among  those  brought  to  England  by  Augustine 
and  his  companions.  He  says  of  them,  with  pardon- 
able pride,  Hcec  sunt  primitice  librarum  totius  ecclesice 
Anglicance.  Among  these  MSS.  were  two  Textus 
Evangeliorum,  which  Elmham  describes. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  copy  of  the 
Gospels,  preserved  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge,  and  another,  in  a  similar  style  of 
writing,  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  are  the  two 
identical  volumes  described  above ;  not  only  because 
they  are  two  of  the  oldest  Latin  MSS.  written  in 
pure  Roman  uncials  which  exist  in  this  country,  but 
also  because  they  contain  Anglo-Saxon  entries  now  a 


108  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

thousand  years   old,   which   connect  them  with    the 
Monastery  of  St.  Augustine. 

The  first  of  these  MSS.  was,  at  the  time  of  the 
dissolution  of  the  religious  houses,  preserved  by 
Matthew  Parker,  afterwards  archbishop,  and  by  him 
given  to  Corpus  Christi  College.  It  is  described  by 
the  late  Professor  Westwood  ^  as  a  quarto  volume, 
9 1  inches  by  7|,  and  about  2^  thick.  The  parch- 
ment is  thin,  the  ink  of  a  faded  brown,  the  text  is 
written  in  fine  Eoman  uncials,  in  double  columns, 
with  twenty-five  lines  in  a  page.  The  book  is  orna- 
mented with  drawings  of  the  highest  interest,  since 
they  are  the  most  ancient  monuments  of  pictorial  art 
existing  in  this  country.  Unfortunately  only  two 
leaves  of  these  drawings  remain.  The  first  of  these 
occurs  opposite  the  commencement  of  the  Prologue  to 
St.  Luke's  Gospel.  It  is  divided  into  twelve  compart- 
ments, each  1  ^  inch  square,  separated  from  each  other 
by  narrow  red  margins,  and  the  whole  enclosed  with 
a  narrow  border,  painted  to  imitate  bluish  marble 
with  red  veins.  The  subjects  of  the  twelve  drawings 
are — (1)  Christ  riding  into  Jerusalem;  (2)  The  Lord's 
Supper;  (3)  Christ  praying  in  Gethsemane;  (4)  The 
raising  of  Lazarus  ;  (5)  Jesus  washing  His  disciples' 
feet;  (6)  Judas  betraying  his  Lord;  (7)  Christ  seized 
hy  the  Jews,  and  Peter  cutting  off  the  ear  of 
Malchus ;  (8)  Christ  before  Caiaphas ;  (9)  Christ  led 
away;  (10)  Pilate  washing  his  hands;  (11)  Christ 
led  to  judgment;  (12)  Christ  bearing  His  Cross. 
They  are  some  of  the  usual  cycle  of  subjects  popular 
in  the  sixth  century,  and  are  treated  in  the  debased 
classical  style  of  that  period. 

'  Paltcof/raphia  Sacra. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLISH  CHURCH  LIBRARY    109 

The  other  drawing  in  the  MS.  is  a  figure  of 
St.  Luke  seated  on  a  throne,  within  an  elaborately 
ornamented  architectural  design,  consisting  of  marble 
columns  supporting  a  semicircular  arch,  with  a  bull 
in  the  tympanum.  The  evangelist  is  habited  in  a 
white  tunic  and  buff-coloured  pallium,  and  holds  an 
open  book  of  his  Gospel  on  his  knees.  In  the  open 
space  between  the  double  columns  which  support  the 
arch  are  introduced  a  series  of  miniatures,  smaller 
than  the  others,  of  the  following  subjects :  on  one 
side — (1)  The  annunciation  to  Zacharias ;  (2)  The 
finding  in  the  temple ;  (3)  Christ  teaching  from  the 
boat ;  (4)  Peter  worshipping  Christ ;  (5)  The  resur- 
rection of  the  widow's  son ;  (6)  The  call  of  Matthew. 
On  the  other  side-T-(l)  Christ  answering  the  doctors 
in  the  temple ;  (2)  The  healing  of  the  woman  who 
touched  the  hem  of  His  garment ;  (3)  Christ  cursing 
the  barren  fig-tree ;  (4)  Christ  healing  the  dropsy ; 
(5)  Zaccheus  in  the  tree. 

The  Bodleian  volume  is  10  inches  by  7^,  written 
in  double  columns,  with  twenty-nine  lines  in  a  page ; 
the  vellum  thin  and  polished ;  the  ink  faded  and  brown  ; 
there  are  no  miniatures. 

Thomas  of  Elmham  adds  :  "  We  have  also  the  Bible 
of  St.  Gregory  and  his  Book  of  the  Gospels,  and  some 
ancient  codices,  all  which  Gregory  sent  to  Augustine." 

Leland  saw  and  describes  these  Gospels  as  written 
in  majuscule  lloman  letters,  after  the  manner  of  the 
ancients,  carrying  in  their  venerable  appearance  an 
incredible  majesty  of  antiquity. 

Wanley  contended  that  this  large  Gregorian  Bible 
was  alluded  to  as  still  existing,  in  a  petition  addressed, 
in  1604,  to  James  i.;  and,  in  the  judgment  of  Pro- 


110  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

feasor  Westwood,  part  of  this  great   Bible   exists   in 
the  British  Museum:  Eoyal  MS.  1,  E.  vi.^ 

Mr.  Stevenson  has,  on  the  contrary,  declared  that, 
"  with  respect  to  the  claims  of  particular  volumes  to 
form  part  of  this  donation,  the  external  evidence  is 
dubious,  and  the  internal  evidence  condemnatory"; 
while  Mr.  Hardwick,  the  editor  of  Mtnham  in  the 
Bolls  Series,  says :  "  With  regard  to  the  Corpus  MS., 
enough,  I  think,  might  be  advanced  to  make  it  pro- 
bable that  we  have  here  at  least  one  veritable  relic 
of  St.  Gregory's  benefaction." 

^  Archesologieal  Journal,  xl.  292. 


CHAPTEK    XVI 

The  Old  Temples  and  Chukches 

Anothek  letter  from  Gregory  to  Abbot  Mellitus  comes 
in  here  in  chronological  order;  it  is  dated  June  17,  601 ; 
but  the  internal  evidence  seems  to  prove  that  it  was 
sent  at  least  some  months  after  the  departure  of 
Laurence,  Mellitus,  and  the  company  of  monks  whom 
they  conducted,  for  it  begins  by  saying :  "  We  have 
been  much  concerned  since  the  departure  of  our  con- 
gregation which  is  with  you,  because  we  have  received 
no  account  of  the  success  of  your  journey."  The 
batch  of  letters  sent  by  Mellitus,  for  instance  that  to 
Augustine  granting  the  pall,  and  that  to  Ethelbert,  are 
dated  the  22nd  of  June  601.  The  journey  of  the 
party  to  England  would  occupy  some  months,  and 
that  of  a  messenger  back  with  tidings  of  their  safe 
arrival  not  much  less  time,  and  it  might  be  expected 
that  there  would  be  some  interval  before  the  messenger 
was  sent  off,  and  another  interval  before  Gregory  would 
begin  to  be  anxious  at  not  receiving  news ;  so  that  it 
might  well  be  a  twelvemonth  before  the  letter  would 
be  sent  to  Mellitus.  It  is  certainly  the  latest  extant 
letter  of  Gregory  on  the  subject  of  the  English 
mission,  and  its  date  might  very  likely  be  June  602. 
The  interest  of  the  letter  consists  in  the  directions 

which  it  contains  to  Augustine  on  the  details  of  his 

ui 


112  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

mission  work.  It  proceeds :  "  When,  therefore,  Al- 
mighty God  shall  bring  you  to  our  brother,  the  Most 
Eeverend  Bishop  Augustine,  tell  him  what  I  have,  on 
matiure  deliberation  on  the  affair  of  the  Enghsh,  de- 
termined upon,  viz.  that  the  temples  of  the  idols  in 
that  nation  ought  not  to  be  destroyed  [in  the  letter  to 
Ethelbert  he  had  said,  "  Suppress  the  worship  of  idols, 
overthrow  the  temples,"  so  that  this  order  is  an  after- 
thought, after  "  mature  deliberation  "],  but  let  the  idols 
that  are  in  them  be  destroyed ;  let  holy  water  be  made 
and  sprinkled  in  the  said  temples,  let  altars  be  erected 
and  rehcs  placed.  For  if  those  temples  are  well  built, 
it  is  requisite  that  they  be  converted  from  the  worship 
of  devils  to  the  service  of  the  true  God ;  that  the 
nations  seeing  that  their  temples  are  not  destroyed, 
may  remove  error  from  their  hearts,  and,  knowing  and 
adoring  the  true  God,  may  the  more  familiarly  resort 
to  the  places  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed. 
And  because  they  have  been  accustomed  to  slaughter 
many  oxen  in  the  sacrifices  to  devils,  some  solemnity 
must  be  exchanged  for  them  on  this  account,  so  that 
on  the  day  of  the  dedication,  or  the  nativities  of  the 
holy  martyrs,  whose  relics  are  there  deposited,  they 
may  build  themselves  huts  of  the  boughs  of  trees  about 
those  churches  which  have  been  turned  to  that  use 
from  temples,  and  celebrate  the  solemnity  with 
religious  feastmg,  and  no  more  offer  beasts  to  the 
devil,  but  kill  cattle  to  the  praise  of  God  in  their 
eating,  and  return  thanks  to  the  Giver  of  all  things 
for  their  sustenance ;  to  the  end  that,  while  some 
gratifications  are  permitted  to  them,  they  may  the 
more  easily  consent  to  the  inward  consolations  of  the 
grace  of  God.     For  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  im- 


THE  OLD  TEMPLES  AND  CHURCHES  113 

possible  to  efface  everything  at  once  from  their 
obdurate  minds ;  because  he  who  endeavours  to  ascend 
to  a  very  high  place,  rises  by  degrees  or  steps,  and  not 
by  bounds.  .  .  .  This  it  behoves  your  Affection  to 
communicate  to  our  aforesaid  brother,  that  he,  being 
there  present,  may  consider  how  he  is  to  order  all 
things." 

We  need  not  discuss  the  policy  of  utilising  the 
religious  sentiment  and  habits  of  the  converted  peoples 
by  elevating  and  Christianising  them ;  this  had  always 
been  the  policy  of  the  Church.  What  we  have  to 
remark  is  that  the  letter  contains  probably  another 
instance  of  Gregory's  ignorance  of  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  the  Enghsh  people ;  the  temples  to  which  he 
alludes  are  clearly  those  in  which  he  supposes  that 
the  English  people  worshipped  before  their  conversion 
to  Christianity. 

But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  they  had  any  "  well- 
built  "  temples  such  as  Gregory  supposed,  suitable  for 
conversion  into  churches.  The  probability  is  that  the 
worship  of  the  Teutonic  Barbarians  was  an  open-air 
worship;  not  a  daily  or  weekly  worship  like  that 
which  our  religious  customs  suggest  to  us,  but  an 
occasional  meeting  of  a  tribe  or  of  the  inhabitants  of  a 
wide  district,  three  or  four  times  a  year,  at  some  sacred 
central  place  of  meeting. 

We  are  told,  indeed,  that  Ethelbert,  before  his  con- 
version, had  been  accustomed  to  worship  in  a  building 
situated  outside  the  city,  between  the  old  Church  of 
St.  Martin  and  the  city  wall,  which  Augustine  after- 
wards consecrated  as  a  church,  and  dedicated  to  St. 
Pancratius ;  but  this  occurs  in  a  late  and  doubtful 
legend. 


114  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Ethelbert  had  given  Augustine  permission  to  repair 
and  build  churches  everywhere,  and  we  have  seen  there 
were  two  of  the  old  British  churches  still  standing  at 
Canterbury,  one  within  and  the  other  without  the  city, 
and  it  is  a  question  of  great  interest  whether  there 
were  any  others  in  Kent. 

There  are  several  other  Eoman  remains  in  Kent, 
which  we  cannot  affirm  to  have  been  originally 
churches  of  the  Eomano  -  British  period,  but  which 
were  incorporated  in  churches  of  the  Saxon  period, 
and  should  be  studied  by  anyone  who  desires  to  have 
before  his  mind  a  picture  of  the  Kent  of  Ethelbert 
and  Augustine. 

At  the  north-east  corner  of  the  mainland  of  Kent 
was  the  Eoman  town  of  Eegulbium,  part  of  the 
enclosure-wall  of  which  remains,  and  many  Eoman 
antiquities  have  been  found  within  it.  Ethelbert  is 
said  to  have  had  a  residence  here,  and  the  estate 
of  Cistelet,  which  was  his  first  donation  to  the 
Abbey  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  was  situated  in  this 
neighbourhood.  In  mediaeval  times,  and  down  to  a 
recent  period,  there  was  a  large  cliurch  here ;  but  the 
population  had  departed,  the  church  fell  into  decay, 
and  a  few  years  ago  it  was  taken  down,  with  the 
exception  of  two  western  towers,  which,  having  long 
served  as  a  landmark  to  ships  entering  the  Thames, 
were  preserved  to  contmue  their  usefulness.  For- 
tunately a  local  antiquary  made  careful  drawings 
of  a  portion  of  the  church,  the  destruction  of  which 
is  greatly  to  be  regretted.  The  nave  was  separated 
from  the  chancel  by  three  round  arches,  of  which  the 
middle  one  was  the  same  height  but  rather  wider  than 
the  side  arches  ;  it  was  supported  by  two  stone  columns 


THE  OLD  TEMPLES  AND  CHURCHES  115 

of  rather  peculiar  design ;  the  shafts  tapered  slightly 
from  bottom  to  top  (it  was  not  an  entasis) ;  the  bases 
were  ornamented  with  two  or  three  rows  of  cable 
moulding ;  the  composition  of  the  capitals  was  as  if  three 
thin  slices  of  truncated  cones  had  been  placed  one  on 
the  top  of  the  other,  with  the  larger  face  upwards,  and 
suggested  the  possibility  of  the  stone  capital  being 
merely  the  block  round  which  mouldings  or  coronals 
of  metal  might  have  been  placed.  The  arches  were 
turned  with  Eoman  brick.  The  side  arches  rested 
upon  jambs  built  of  hewn  stone  with  bonding  courses 
of  brick  at  intervals,  more  Romano.  These  jamb-walls 
were  returned  for  a  yard  or  two  eastward,  and  then 
continued  by  more  modern  masonry  to  complete  the 
north  and  south  walls  of  the  chancel.  This  interesting 
fragment  was  probably  of  late  Eoman  date,  say  the 
fifth  or  sixth  century;  it  might  even  have  been  of 
Saxon  date,  built  out  of  the  materials  of  the  ruined 
Eoman  buildings  of  Eegulbium.  What  use  the  build- 
ing of  which  it  formed  part  had  originally  served  it  is 
difficult  to  conjecture.  A  triplet  like  that  did  not 
form  part  of  a  colonnade  separating  a  body  from  its 
aisle ;  we  have  no  example  of  such  a  triplet  between 
the  nave  and  apse  of  a  basilican  church ;  and  if  the 
reader  chooses  to  think  that  it  was  the  original  chancel 
arch  of  a  church  built  by  Ethelbert  adjoining  his 
palace  at  Eeculver,  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove  him 
mistaken. 

The  double  monastery  whicli  Ethelburga,  the  widow 
of  Edwin  of  Northumbria,  founded  on  her  return  to 
Kent  in  633  at  Lyminge,  was  built  upon  the  remains 
of  an  earlier  building,  whose  foundations  still  remain  ; 
these  were  considered  by  the  members  of  the  Archa;o- 


116  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEEBURY 

logical  Institute  to  represent  a  lioman  residence,  in- 
cluding a  Christian  church,  and  to  belong  to  the  close 
of  the  fourth  or  beginning  of  the  fifth  century. 

There  is  a  church  in  Dover  Castle,  built  in  large 
part  of  Eomau  bricks,  and  in  the  Eomanesque  style 
which  obtained  from  the  sixth  to  the  twelfth  century, 
so  that  it  is  difficult  to  determine  its  date.  Some 
antiquaries  think  it  a  church  of  Eoman-British  times, 
restored  in  Saxon  times.  Others — among  them  Pro- 
fessor Freeman  and  Sir  G-.  G.  Scott — attribute  it  to 
the  time  of  King  Ethelbald. 

Thus  we  get  a  list  of  more  or  less  probable  remains 
of  churches  of  the  old  British  Church  remaining  in 
Kent  at  the  time  of  the  English  conversion,  viz.  St. 
Martin's  and  Christ  Church,  the  doubtful  castle  chapel 
at  Dover,  the  possible  church  at  Eichborough,  and  the 
probable  foundations  at  Lyminge. 


CHAPTEE  XVII 

The  Foundation  of  the  Monastery  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 

The  arrival  of  the  new  band  of  missionaries,  with  men 
of  superior  ability  among  them  like  Mellitus,  Justus, 
Paulinus,  and  Eufinianus,  would  give  a  great  impulse 
to  the  good  work  which  was  making  such  progress  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Kent.  We  are  inclined  to  assign 
to  this  period  the  foundation  of  the  new  monastery 
outside  the  city  of  Canterbury.  We  are  not  ex- 
pressly told,  but  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that 
among  the  English  converts  to  the  faith  some  would 
be  moved  to  adopt  the  Hfe  which  was  put  before 
them,  by  precept  and  example,  as  the  highest  phase 
of  the  religious  life,  that  of  the  cloister;  and  we 
conclude  that  by  this  time  there  were  English  inmates 
of  Gregory's  Monastery  of  Christ  Church.  The 
arrival  of  the  new  reinforcements  would  naturally 
lead  to  a  general  consideration  of  the  situation  of 
things,  and  the  formation  of  new  plans  for  the  future. 
In  this  new  arrangement  it  was  natural  that  a  dis- 
tinction should  be  made  between  those  who  were 
monks,  desirous  of  and  perhaps  only  fitted  for  the 
life  of  seclusion,  and  those  whose  aims  and  qualities 
fitted  them  for  the  more  active  work  of  evangelisation. 
It  was  resolved   to  found  a  new  monastery  for  the 

117 


118  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

former,  while  the  latter  continued  in  the  city  as  the 
missionary  staff  of  the  bishop. 

Ethelbert  gave  a  site  for  the  new  monastery  on  a 
plot  of  ground  between  the  city  walls  and  the  old 
Church  of  St.  Martin.  The  later  monastic  historians 
say  that  it  was  the  site  on  which  Ethelbert  had 
been  accustomed  to  worship  in  his  unconverted 
days ;  that  is,  the  Teutonic  place  of  worship  of  the 
people  of  Canterbury.  Thorn  says,  also,  that  there 
was  a  building  there  which,  on  Ethelbert's  conversion, 
Augustine  had  consecrated  as  a  church,  under  the 
name  of  St.  Pancratius ;  but  all  this  is  matter  of 
doubtful  tradition.  The  ruins  of  a  small  Chapel  of 
St.  Pancras  (thirty  feet  by  twenty-five)  still  exist 
within  the  precincts  of  the  cemetery  of  St.  Augustine's 
Monastery,  in  the  walls  of  which  many  Roman  bricks 
have  been  used,  and  the  arch  of  a  round-headed  door 
is  turned  with  them,  but  the  building  is  probably  of 
not  earlier  date  than  the  twelfth  century. 

What  is  certain  is,  that  Ethelbert  gave  the  ground, 
and  that  Augustine  planned  a  monastery  there  on  a 
grand  scale.  It  was  intended  from  the  first  to  be  the 
burial-place  of  the  kings  and  of  the  archbishops ;  the 
kings  were  to  be  buried  in  the  south  ^porticus,  and  the 
archbishops  in  the  north  jporticus.  The  word  porticus 
usually  means  portico  or  porch,  but  Professor  Willis 
is  of  opinion  that  what  is  said  of  these  ^jw^ici  makes 
it  necessary  to  suppose  that  they  were  of  the  nature 
of  transepts.  So  that  the  two  portici  were  in  fact 
two  great  mortuary  chapels,  opening  perhaps  into  the 
church,  in  which  the  sarcophagi  of  the  kings  and 
archbishops  would  be  ranged  in  order.  We  call  to 
mind    that    the   building   called   the   Church    of    SS. 


FOUNDATION  OF  MONASTERY  119 

Nazaro  e  Celso  at  Eavenna,  was  in  fact  a  mortuary 
chapel,  built  by  the  Empress  Galla  Placidia,  in  which 
the  sarcophagi  of  herself,  her  husband  Constantius, 
and  her  son  Valentinian  still  remain,  and  that  the 
Bishops  of  Eome  of  the  third  century  were  buried 
in  a  sepulchral  chamber  appropriated  to  them,  and 
we  suppose  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the  time  to 
construct  such  special  buildings  for  the  reception  of 
the  tombs  of  great  personages.  It  may  be  noted  here 
in  a  parenthesis,  that  the  royal  persons  who  are  re- 
corded to  have  been  buried  in  the  south  porticus,  in 
accordance  with  this  intention,  were  King  Ethelbert 
and  Queen  Bertha,  his  son  King  Eadbald  and  Queen 
Emma,  his  son  King  Ercombert,  King  Hlothaere  and 
his  daughter  St.  Mildred,  Mulus,  a  stranger  king  who 
was  brother  of  Cadwalla,  and  King  Withred.  The 
archbishops  who  were  buried  in  the  north  porticus 
were  Augustine,  Laurence,  Mellitus,  Justus,  Honorius, 
Deusdedit ;  in  the  church  itself  (because  the  north 
porticus  was  full),  Theodore,  Tatwin,  and  Nothelm. 
Cuthbert  desired  to  transfer  the  burial-place  of  the 
bishops  to  the  baptistry  (dedicated  to  St.  John  the 
Baptist),  which  he  had  built  near  the  east  end  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Christ  Church,  and  ordered  that  his 
death  should  be  kept  secret  until  after  his  burial 
there,  in  order  that  the  new  monastery  might  not 
claim  his  body ;  his  successor  Bregwin  was  also 
buried  at  Christ  Church ;  but  the  next  Archbishop, 
Jaenberht,  who  had  been  Abbot  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul  when  Cuthbert  broke  the  ancient  custom,  and 
had  loudly  protested  against  it,  consistently  ordered 
his  own  burial  to  be  in  the  chapter-house  of  the  new 
monastery.       A   large   plot   of  ground   adjoining  the 


120  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEEBURY 

monastery  was  appropriated  as  the  general  cemetery 
of  the  neighbouring  city. 

Everything  which  we  know  about  the  monastery 
tends  to  prove  that  the  monkish  founders,  as  they 
supposed  themselves,  of  the  Church  of  the  English, 
intended  that  this  should  be  a  pattern.  The  monks 
of  a  later  day  call  it  the  mater  primaria  of  the 
monasteries  of  England.  As  a  matter  of  history,  we 
know  that  the  Celtic  Monastery  of  lona  was  the 
Tuater  primaria  of  the  monasteries  of  northern  Eng- 
land, and  that  Benedict  Biscop,  in  founding  his  monas- 
teries at  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow,  and  Wilfred  those 
at  Eipon  and  Hexham,  did  not  copy  the  great  monas- 
tery of  Augustine,  but  went  direct  to  Italy  and  Gaul 
for  their  exemplars. 

Some  centuries  later  there  was  a  great  and  bitter 
rivalry  between  the  two  monasteries,  Christ  Church, 
and  the  later  foundation  which  by  that  time  was 
known  as  St.  Augustine's.  The  latter  claimed  that 
its  founders,  Ethelbert  the  first  Christian  King,  and 
Augustine  the  first  Archbishop,  had  concurred  in 
giving  to  the  new  monastery  the  special  privilege 
that  it  should  be  entirely  free  from  interference  from 
king  or  bishop,  together  with  its  estates  and  churches 
— "  in  its  head  and  members,  within  and  without,"  a 
little  imperium  in  imperio.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
say,  in  dealing  with  this  early  stage  of  its  history, 
that  though  bishop  and  king  designed  to  make  it  a 
great  and  model  institution,  there  is  no  satisfactory 
evidence  that  they  gave  it  any  such  exceptional  privi- 
leges. The  first  example  which  can  be  established 
by  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  exemption  of  a  monas- 
tery from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  is  that  of  Fulda,  at 


FOUNDATION  OF  MONASTERY  121 

the  instigation  of  Boniface  in  751  a.d.  ;  and  when 
the  claims  of  St.  Augustine's  became  the  subject  of 
legal  investigation,  and  the  charters  were  submitted 
in  1181  A.D.  to  the  examination  of  a  commission, 
consisting  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham  and  the  Abbot  of 
St.  Alban's,  the  so-called  Charter  of  Ethelbert,  exhibited 
in  evidence,  turned  out  to  be  a  document  marred  by 
erasures  and  interlineations,  and  not  validated  by 
signature  and  seal,  and  the  so-called  Charter  of  Augus- 
tine, to  be  a  document  which  bore  the  traces  of  its 
recent  origin  on  the  face  of  it,  in  the  character  of  its 
writing  and  the  nature  of  its  seal. 

We  are  only  concerned  with  these  later  passages 
of  history  inasmuch  as  they  bear  upon  the  earlier 
period  with  which  we  have  to  do.  We  conclude  that 
Augustine  founded  the  Monastery  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul,  as  a  part  of  his  organisation  of  the  religious  life 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Kent  in  the  first  place,  with  ulterior 
views  of  its  being  an  exemplar  of  the  monastic  insti- 
tution among  the  nation  of  the  English ;  and  we  do 
not  doubt  that  he  intended  to  keep  it  under  the 
authority  of  the  archbishop,  and  a  part  of  his  general 
work ;  just  as  Gregory  had  dealt  with  the  Monastery 
of  St.  Andrew  on  the  Cselian  Hill,  when  he  became 
Bishop  of  Eome. 

Elmham  says  that  the  monastery  was  founded  in 
597,  which  seems  too  early  a  date;  according  to 
Thorn,  it  was  so  far  advanced  that  the  King  and 
Queen  kept  Christmas  there  in  605  ;  we  adhere  to 
the  opinion  that  the  new  foundation  was  deter- 
mined upon  soon  after  the  arrival  of  Abbot  Mellitus 
and  the  reinforcement  of  the  English  mission ;  that 
it   took    some    time   to    settle    the    preliminaries,  to 


122  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

obtain  the  grant  of  the  site,  and  the  endowments  in 
land  from  the  King ;  to  plan  and  erect  the  monastic 
buildings.  We  assume  that  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
church  would  be  built  and  fitted  for  the  celebration 
of  divine  service,  and  that  the  domestic  buildings 
would  be  carried  on  at  the  same  time,  and  that  the 
new  community  would  not  be  separated  from  the  rest 
of  Augustine's  family  till  this  was  done ;  these  things 
might  well  fill  up  the  interval  between  the  year 
601  A.D,  of  the  arrival  of  Mellitus  and  his  company, 
and  the  invitation  of  the  King  and  Queen  to  a  great 
"house-warming"  at  Christmas  605,  by  Abbot  Peter 
and  his  monks.  Peter  was  one  of  the  band  of  men 
who  accompanied  Augustine ;  that  he  was  one  of  the 
ablest  of  them  we  conjecture  from  the  fact  that  he, 
with  Laurence  the  Priest,  was  sent  back  to  report  in 
person  to  Gregory.  Again,  to  anticipate  the  future 
history  of  the  monastery  in  a  parenthesis,  since  it 
reflects  light  upon  the  present,  Peter,  soon  after  his 
appointment,  sailed  from  Gaul  on  some  errand  of 
which  we  have  no  knowledge,  and  was  shipwrecked 
and  cast  ashore  dead  in  the  Bay  of  Ambleteuse.  He 
was  succeeded  by  John,  another  of  the  original  band 
of  missionaries ;  after  him  came  the  Eufinianus  men- 
tioned among  the  most  distinguished  of  the  second 
band  of  missionaries ;  he  by  Graciosus,  one  of  the  first 
company ;  he  by  Petronius ;  he  by  Nathaniel,  one  of 
the  second  company ;  then,  after  a  vacancy  of  two 
years,  came  Abbot  Adrian,  the  fellow-labourer  of 
Archbishop  Theodore,  with  whom  a  new  era  begins. 

Of  the  fabric  of  this  great  and  famous  monastery 
we  are  not  so  fortunate  as  to  have  any  description, 
and  the  remaining  buildings  of  it  are  of  much  later 


FOUNDATION  OF  MONASTERY  123 

date,  and  afford  no  clue  to  its  earlier  construction. 
It  is  very  possible  that  the  conventual  buildings 
may  have  been  of  timber;  that  was  the  usual 
building  material  of  the  Saxons,  and  nearly  all  the 
domestic  portions  of  their  monasteries  were  so  built. 

The  church  was  long  in  progress ;  it  was  probably 
of  masonry,  and  as  grand  as  Augustine's  remini- 
scence of  Italian  monasteries,  and  the  skill  of  native 
builders,  with  his  plans  and  suggestions,  could  make 
it.  The  church,  which  was  the  principal  and  ruling 
feature  of  the  whole  design,  would  be  of  the  basilican 
type ;  it  was  the  universal  type  of  the  period.  It 
would  have  the  special  features  of  the  two  transepts, 
designed  for  the  mortuary  chapels  of  the  kings  and 
archbishops.  The  cloister-court  would  be  placed,  as 
was  the  universal  custom  where  no  difficulties  of  site 
prevented,  and  here  there  were  no  such  difficulties, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  nave,  in  the  quadrangle 
partially  defined  by  the  wall  of  the  nave  as  its  north 
boundary,  and  the  wall  of  the  transept  as  its  east 
boundary ;  and  the  buildings  would  consist  of  the 
day-room  and  dormitory  over  it,  the  refectory  and 
kitchen,  the  house  for  the  lay-brothers — the  workers 
and  servants  of  the  community,  perhaps  the  house  for 
the  entertainment  of  strangers,  all  arranged  round  the 
central  open-air  cloistered  court,  which  was  the  nucleus 
of  a  monastic  house. 

It  is  a  transgression  centuries  beyond  the  scope  of 
our  history,  but  entirely  within  its  spirit,  to  note  that 
the  site  of  the  venerable  Monastery  of  St.  Augustine, 
with  the  remains  of  its  mediaeval  buildings  confiscated 
and  ruined  at  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
have,  in  our   days,  through  the  devotion  and  muni- 


124  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

ficence  of  the  late  Mr.  A.  J.  B.  Beresford  Hope,  been 
recovered  to  the  church,  and  converted,  with  the 
necessary  new  buildings,  to  the  purposes  of  a  Mission- 
ary College,  which  has  been  sending  its  students 
through  all  the  world,  to  extend  the  English  Church 
which  Augustine  planted. 

It  was  not  only  religion  which  the  Italian  monks 
introduced  into  Kent,  but  the  civilisation  of  the 
ancient  Empire.  There  is  one  important  passage  in  Bede 
(ii.  5)  which  bears  upon  this  subject.  He  says  that 
among  other  benefits  which  Ethelbert  conferred  upon 
the  nation  was  this,  that,  "  with  the  counsel  of  his  wise 
men,  he  introduced  judicial  decrees  after  the  Eoman 
model,  which,  being  written  in  English,  were  still  (in 
Bede's  time)  observed  by  them.  Among  these,  in 
the  first  place,  he  set  down  what  satisfaction  should 
be  given  by  those  who  should  steal  anything  belong- 
ing to  the  Church,  the  bishop,  or  the  other  clergy — 
resolving  to  give  protection  to  those  whose  doctrine 
he  had  embraced."  The  wise  men  by  whose  counsel 
Ethelbert  introduced  a  code  of  laws  were  no  doubt 
the  constitutional  Witenagemot.  We  can  hardly 
doubt  that  the  laws  after  the  Eoman  model  which  the 
King  introduced,  with  the  consent  of  his  Witan,  were 
suggested  by  Augustine,  and  perhaps  through  Augus- 
tine by  Gregory  himself,  who,  we  remember,  had 
studied  the  Eoman  law  in  his  youth,  and  administered 
it  as  Praetor  of  Eome. 

The  circumstances  of  the  case  make  it  highly 
X)robable,  and  the  probability  is  increased  by  the 
fact  that,  among  the  questions  which  Augustine 
put    to    Gregory^    was    one   as    to    the    punishment 

ip.  68. 


FOUNDATION  OF  MONASTERY  125 

to  be  inflicted  upon  anyone  who  should  steal  from 
the  Church,  and  that  the  first  of  Ethelbert's  laws 
relates  to  the  satisfaction  which  should  be  given  by 
those  who  steal  anything  belonging  to  the  Church  and 
its  ministers. 

These  "  Dooms  of  Ethelbert "  seem  to  have  been 
issued  between  597  and  605;  they  are  the  first  written 
code  of  laws  of  the  English  race ;  they  indicate 
that  if  the  King  of  Kent  did  not,  like  Edwin  of 
Northumbria,  consult  his  Witan  before  he  embraced 
Christianity  and  allowed  the  missionaries  to  convert 
such  of  his  subjects  as  chose  to  listen  to  them,  he  did 
at  an  early  period  seek  the  sanction  of  that  body  for 
the  consequent  legislation. 

One  of  the  first  duties  of  the  monks  was  to  teach 
learning  to  such  of  their  converts  as,  by  their  social 
station  or  exceptional  abilities,  were  fit  subjects 
for  it.  The  new  monastery  would  be  a  model  of 
architecture  to  the  people,  its  church  probably  the 
first  and  certainly  the  finest  building  of  stone  erected 
in  Kent  since  the  Eoman  times.  In  many  ways  the 
cultured  Italians  would  introduce  the  arts  and  manners 
of  a  refined  civilisation  among  the  rude  Kentish  men. 


CHAPTEE    XVIII 

The  Negotiation  with  the  British  Church 

We  have  seen  that,  when  Gregory  assumed  to  place  the 
British  bishops  under  the  MetropoHtan  jurisdiction  of 
Augustine,  as  Archbishop  of  the  Enghsh,  he  probably 
supposed  that,  as  was  the  case  in  Italy  and  Gaul,  they 
were  the  bishops  of  surviving  towns  of  the  old  Eoman 
province,  standing  like  islands  amidst  the  Englisli 
population  which  had  flowed  around  them ;  so  that, 
when  the  English  were  converted,  it  would  be  highly 
desirable  that  the  bishops  of  the  two  races  should  be 
united  in  one  ecclesiastical  organisation  of  the  whole 
country,  Augustine  found  the  actual  condition  of 
things  very  different  from  that  which  Gregory  had 
contemplated,  but  still  he  thought  it  right  to  enter 
into  communication  with  the  British  bishops,  and 
to  invite  them  to  accept  the  plan  which  Gregory 
had  sketched  out,  so  far  as  it  was  possible  in  the 
circumstances.  We  should  hardly  have  expected 
that  the  King  of  Kent  would  possess  sufficient  in- 
fluence among  the  British  to  induce  their  ecclesias- 
tical leaders  to  consent  to  entertain  the  question 
and  to  come  to  confer  with  Augustine  upon  it. 
The  chronic  war  between  the  two  races,  the  British 
and  the  English,  was  still  in  progress.  In  577  the 
West   Saxons   had   won  a  great  battle  at  Deorham, 

126 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    127 

which  had  given  them  possession  of  Bath,  Gloucester, 
Cirencester,  and  the  country  round  about  those  towns, 
and  had  thus  severed  the  native  inhabitants  of  the 
peninsula  of  Cornwall  and  Devon  from  their  country- 
men in  Wales.  The  Saxons  were  still  pressing  the 
rest  of  the  native  population  westward,  but  had  not 
yet  extended  their  conquests  to  the  line  which  they 
ultimately  attained  :  Cumbria  was  still  independent, 
and  was  disputing  the  advance  of  the  Northumbrian 
kingdom  with  varying  fortunes ;  the  continuity  of  the 
independent  country,  from  the  Firth  of  Solway  to  the 
Bristol  Channel,  was  not  severed  until,  in  613,  the 
result  of  a  great  battle  at  Chester  drove  in  a  wedge  of 
Mercia  between  Wales  and  Cumbria. 

The  Church  of  Wales  had  lately  reorganised  itself 
on  the  Knes  which  have  lasted  to  the  present  day. 
Out  of  the  confusion  which  followed  the  break-up  of 
the  Eoman  province,  the  inhabitants  of  Wales  had 
grouped  themselves  into  four  independent  kingdoms — 
Gwynedd,  Powys,  Menevia,  and  Gwent — and  in  each 
a  separate  bishopric  had  been  established ;  Bangor  for 
Gwynedd,  Llanelwy  (or  St.  Asaph)  for  Powys,  St. 
David's  for  Menevia,  and  Llandaff  for  Gwent.  The 
date  of  the  actual  foundation  of  the  Sees  is  not  known ; 
but  Daniel,  the  first  Bishop  of  Bangor,  died  584  A.D. ; 
St.  David  died  in  601  a.d.  ;  St.  Kentigern,  the 
probable  founder  of  St.  Asaph,  in  612  a.d.  ;  and  in 
the  same  year  also  died  Dubricius,  the  founder  of 
Llandaff. 

In  spite  of  the  political  confusion,  learning  and 
religion  still  flourished  in  Wales.  St.  David's  monas- 
tery especially  was  a  great  centre,  to  which  not  only 
native  Britons,  but  the  Irish  also,  were  coming  for 


128  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

instruction  and  training  in  the  religious  life.  From 
his  monastery  went  forth  Finian  with  several  com- 
panions, whom  legendary  story  calls  the  Twelve 
Apostles  of  Ireland,  to  effect  a  great  revival  of  religion 
in  that  island. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  Welsh  Church,  and 
some  of  the  great  men  above  mentioned  were  bishops 
in  it,  at  the  time  that  Ethelbert  invited  them  to  con- 
ference with  Augustine. 

If  we  try  to  put  ourselves  in  the  position  of  the 
British  ecclesiastical  leaders,  when  the  invitation  came 
to  them,  we  shall  perhaps  be  able  to  conjecture  how 
the  proposal  would  present  itself  to  their  minds.  They 
were  the  present  representatives  of  the  Church  which 
had  lately  spread  over  the  whole  province  of  Britannia ; 
the  withdrawal  of  the  imperial  authority  from  the 
island,  the  conquest  of  half  their  country  by  Bar- 
barian and  heathen  tribes,  had  made  no  difference  in 
their  ecclesiastical  relations  with,  or  in  their  personal 
feelings  towards,  the  Churches  of  the  Continent  in 
general  and  of  Eome  in  particular. 

They  now  learnt  officially  that  the  Bishop  of  Eome, 
the  illustrious  Gregory,  had  sent  a  mission  to  convert 
their  barbarous  enemies ;  that  this  mission  had  suc- 
ceeded in  converting  Kent,  or  at  least  in  securing  a 
firm  footing  in  that  kingdom;  and  they  were  asked  to 
meet  the  chief  of  this  mission,  who  had  been  conse- 
crated as  Bishop  of  the  English,  in  friendly  conference. 
Why  not? 

It  may  help  us  to  further  enter  into  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  British  Church,  if  we  call  to  mind  that 
after  the  retirement  of  the  Empire  from  the  island, 
wliile  the  people  were  harassed  by  the  invasions  of 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    129 

the  Saxon  pirates  and  the  incursions  of  the  Picts  and 
Scots,  the  Church  found  leisure  for  the  Pelagian  con- 
troversy, and  held  the  synods  at  which  Germanus  and 
Lupus  had  come  over  from  Gaul  to  assist.  It  illus- 
trates the  disturbed  state  of  the  country  at  that  very 
time,  if  we  remember  that  while  Germanus  was  here 
there  was  an  incursion  of  these  foreign  foes — both 
Saxons  and  Picts — and  that  Germanus,  at  the  request 
of  the  people,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  their  forces,  in- 
spired them  with  courage,  and  suggested  the  stratagem 
which  gained  them  the  famous  "  Alleluia  "  victory. 

We  may  also  bear  in  mind  that  at  this  very  time 
Eome  itself  was  in  circumstances  not  dissimilar  from 
those  in  which  the  Britons  found  themselves.  The 
Roman  territory,  smaller  than  that  which  the  un- 
conquered  Britons  still  retained,  was  surrounded  by 
the  Lombards,  continually  harassed  by  their  incur- 
sions, and  in  danger  of  being  conquered  by  them ;  and 
yet  the  ecclesiastical  life  of  Rome  went  on  much  as 
usual,  and  Gregory  engaged  in  political  controversy 
with  the  Emperor  and  an  ecclesiastical  controversy 
with  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  administered  the 
business  of  his  See  with  an  unintermittent  vigilance, 
intervened  in  the  affairs  of  Gaul,  and  still  had  leisure 
to  watch  over  his  mission  in  distant  Britain.  War 
may  be  raging  on  our  frontier,  the  enemy  may  be 
gaining  victories  and  advancing  towards  us,  but  the 
affairs  of  daily  life  are  not  interrupted  till  the  enemy 
is  actually  upon  us ;  and  the  affairs  of  daily  life  of 
ecclesiastics  are  the  moral  and  spiritual  tendance  of 
their  people,  and  the  interests  of  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

It  is  not,  then,  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  things 
9 


130  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

that,  amidst  the  break-up  of  the  Empire  in  Britain, 
the  people  should  still  be  discussing  theological 
questions  and  holding  synods  about  them ;  or  that, 
while  the  armed  forces  of  Wales  were  engaged  with 
the  invading  Saxons  beyond  the  Severn,  St.  David 
and  Caradoc  should  continue  to  cultivate  learning 
and  religion,  should  be  engaged  in  reorganising 
the  native  Church  in  accordance  with  the  actual 
political  and  social  changes  which  were  taking  place 
among  the  people,  should  be  sending  forth  mission- 
aries to  Ireland,  and  should  be  willing  to  enter  into 
communication  with  Augustine  in  the  interests  of 
religion. 

Augustine  would  represent  to  them  the  Church  of 
the  West,  with  which  they  had  always  been  in  full 
communion  and  co-operation.  Their  representatives 
had  been  present  in  the  old  time  at  the  great  Councils 
of  the  Western  Church,  or,  if  they  had  not  been  repre- 
sented by  delegates,  they  had  sent  in  their  acceptance  of 
the  decrees  of  the  Councils.  There  was  no  reason,  so 
far,  why  the  British  should  not  give  a  friendly  response 
to  an  invitation  to  a  conference  with  the  Eoman  mis- 
sionary. Eome  was  to  them  still,  as  it  had  always 
been,  the  premier  See  of  Western  Christendom,  an 
object  of  great  respect  and  reverence.  Pious  Britons 
for  many  generations,  while  it  was  possible,  had  made 
their  pilgrimages  to  "  the  threshold  of  the  Apostles  "  at 
Eome,  and  nothing  had  happened  to  diminish  their 
reverence  for  it. 

Augustine  came  to  them,  through  the  mediation  of 
Ethelbert,  King  of  Kent,  as  the  Archbishop  of  the 
English.  Well,  the  Bishop  of  Eome  had  undertaken 
a  good  work  in  essaying   to  convert  the  Barbarians 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    131 

who  had  assailed  Britain,  as  other  tribes  of  the  Bar- 
barians had  successfully  assailed  and  established  them- 
selves in  other  portions  of  the  Empire.  They  could 
do  no  other  than  wish  him  success  in  his  mission. 
The  Kingdom  of  Kent  was  far  away  from  them  and 
their  present  interests.  It  had  been  established  in  its 
corner  of  Britain  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
Men  in  those  days  accepted  the  logic  of  events  as  we 
do  in  these  days ;  friendly  communications  with  the 
now  Christian  King  of  Kent,  the  powerful  Bretwalda, 
could  hardly  bring  the  Welsh  any  harm,  and  might 
bring  them  good.  There  was  no  reason  here  either 
why  they  should  not  meet  Augustine  in  friendly  con- 
ference ;  and  so  they  met  him. 

Where  was  the  meeting  held  ?  There  are  several 
claimants  for  the  honour  of  having  been  the  place  of 
this  interesting  historical  event.  Two  seem  to  have 
plausible  claims.  One  of  these  is  the  Apostles'  Oak, 
in  the  parish  of  Abberley,  at  the  junction  of  the  two 
dioceses  of  Worcester  and  Hereford,  which  seems  to 
correspond  with  the  words  of  Bede,  who  describes  the 
place  of  meeting  as  near  to  the  end  of  the  West 
Saxons,  or  Wiccii,  and  there  is  an  ancient  tradition 
that  this  was  the  place;  another  is  Austre  Olive 
or  Aust  in  Gloucestershire,  on  the  Severn,  where 
the  old  Eoman  ferry  is  said  to  have  crossed  the  river 
to  Chepstow. 

Bede  gives  the  narrative  of  the  proceedings  in  some 
detail.  Gregory  "  began  by  brotherly  admonitions  to 
persuade  them  to  preserve  Catholic  unity,  and  with 
him  to  undertake  the  common  labour  of  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  nations " ;  and  then  he  enumer- 
ates some  of  the  particulars  in  which  they  differed 


132  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

from  the  usages  of  the  Eoman  Church.  The  principal 
of  these  were  the  time  of  keeping  Easter,  the  form  of 
the  clerical  tonsure,  some  peculiarity  in  the  ordination 
of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  a  peculiarity  in  the 
mode  of  administering  baptism.  They  had  a  Liturgy 
of  their  own,  and  a  version  of  the  Bible  of  their  own. 
It  is  very  important  to  observe  that  the  differences 
between  the  two  Churches  were  only  such  trifling 
matters  as  these ;  in  all  the  great  questions  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  faith,  the  organisation  and  discipline 
of  the  Church,  they  were  entirely  agreed. 

The  whole  question  came  up  again  half  a  century 
afterwards,  and  was  fully  debated  at  the  Synod  of 
Whitby.  Bede  reports  the  speeches  on  both  sides 
on  that  occasion  at  considerable  length,  and  the  reader 
may  profitably  read  the  argument  as  there  given.^ 

The  main  arguments  on  one  side  and  on  the  other 
were  these  : — The  Italians  said  that  their  customs  were 
those  of  the  whole  Church,  and  maintained  that  it 
was  desirable,  for  the  sake  of  Catholic  unity,  that  the 
Britons  should  conform  to  them.  The  Britons  pleaded 
that  they  followed  the  customs  of  their  spiritual 
ancestors,  which  they  had  received  from  St.  John  the 
Apostle,  and  they  were  unwilling  to  abandon  them. 
It  is  well  to  note  this  belief  of  the  British  Church  that 
it  derived  its  descent  from  St.  John;  because  it  is 
a  confirmation  of  the  conclusion  at  which  we  arrive 
from  other  evidence,  that  the  Church  was  planted 
in  Britain  by  Gallic  missionaries,  the  Gallic  Church 
having  itself  been  founded  at  Vienne  and  Lyons  by 
Pothinus,  Irenseus,  and  other  missionaries,  who  came 
from  Asia  Minor  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 

*  Bede,  Eed.  Hist.  Book  iii.  ch.  25. 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    133 

It  is  worth  while  to  bestow  a  little  attention  upon 
these  special  customs  in  dispute. 

The  proper  time  for  the  observance  of  the  great 
Easter  festival,  upon  which  other  great  festivals  of  the 
Church  depended,  had  been  a  subject  of  dispute 
between  the  Churches  of  the  East  and  the  West  as 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  When 
Polycarp  the  martyr  visited  Eome  about  158  A.D., 
the  two  customs  came  face  to  face  in  the  different 
practice  of  the  "Angel  of  the  Church  of  Smyrna," 
and  of  Bishop  Anicetus  of  Rome.  It  had  been  the 
practice  of  the  Asiatics  to  celebrate  the  Paschal 
Supper  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  Jewish 
month,  the  same  day  on  which  the  Jews  kept  the 
Feast  of  the  Passover ;  and  three  days  later  they 
kept  the  Feast  of  the  Eesurrection,  on  whatever  day 
of  the  week  it  might  happen  to  fall.  Other  Churches, 
having  special  regard  to  the  fact  that  the  resurrection 
had  taken  place  on  a  Sunday,  and  that  the  weekly 
holy  day  had  been  altered  by  the  apostles  from  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  to  the  Lord's  Day  on  that  account, 
held  that  the  yearly  Festival  of  the  Eesurrection 
ought  also  to  be  held  on  a  Sunday.  The  Asiatic  or 
Quariodeciman  practice  was  traced  to  St.  John  and 
St.  Philip,  that  of  the  Western  Churches  to  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul.  Polycarp  and  Anicetus  agreed  that 
in  such  a  matter  a  difference  of  practice  might  be 
allowed. 

The  question  was  revived  about  twenty  years  after- 
wards, when  Victor,  the  Bishop  of  Eome,  endeavoured 
to  induce  the  Eastern  Churches  to  conform  to  the 
Western  practice,  and  threatened  with  excommunica- 
tion those  who  declined  to  agree.     Polycrates,  Bishop 


134  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

of  Ephesus,  referred  the  practice  of  his  Church  to  St. 
Philip  and  St.  John  ;  Irenseus,  by  that  time  Bishop 
of  Lyons,  urged  that  such  a  question  ought  not  to  be 
made  a  ground  for  a  breach  of  communion,  inasmuch 
as  a  diversity  of  usages  had  always  been  allowed,  and 
such  variation  in  things  indifferent  served  to  confirm 
the  argument  which  might  be  drawn  from  the  agree- 
ment of  all  Churches  as  to  the  essentials  of  faith. 
At  length,  at  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  it  was  agreed 
by  all  the  Churches,  for  the  sake  of  uniformity,  to 
adopt  the  Western  usage,  and  to  celebrate  the  great 
festival  on  the  first  Sunday  after  the  first  full  moon 
after  the  vernal  equinox.  But  it  required  some 
astronomical  science  to  calculate  the  day  beforehand, 
and  the  duty  was  laid  upon  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
as  the  great  centre  of  the  science  of  the  time,  to  have 
it  calculated,  and  to  send  round  to  the  Churches 
notice  of  the  proper  day. 

Next,  for  the  convenience  of  the  Churches,  methods 
of  calculating  the  time  of  Easter  by  means  of  tables, 
such  as  those  at  the  beginning  of  our  prayer-books, 
were  invented.  One  method,  which  is  known  as  the 
Cycle  of  Sulpicius  Severus,  a  disciple  of  St.  Martin  of 
Tours,  was  adopted  by  the  Western  Churches ;  but 
after  a  while  it  was  found  to  be  incorrect,  and  was 
superseded  by  the  Cycle  of  Victorius  Aquitanus. 

The  British  Church  was  not,  as  is  supposed,  follow- 
ing the  Quartodeeiman  practice  of  St.  John ;  it  had 
accepted  the  decision  of  Nicsea,  and  had  adopted  the 
Cycle  of  Sulpicius  Severus ;  and  in  its  isolation  and 
backwardness  had  not  exchanged  it  for  the  more 
correct  Cycle  of  Victorius  when  the  other  Churches 
did.     We   have  an  instance   of  precisely  the   same 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    135 

kind  at  this  day.  The  fact  that  the  astronomical 
year  (the  time  of  the  earth's  complete  circuit  round 
the  sun)  is  not  an  exact  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
days,  but  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  and  a  quarter 
nearly,  had  thrown  the  civil  year  out  of  harmony  with 
the  real  year,  to  the  amount  of  eleven  days.  In  1582 
the  continental  nations  of  Europe  agreed  to  alter  the 
civil  year  so  as  to  re-establish  the  correspondence, 
and  to  adopt  a  new  cycle  (adding  a  day  to  every 
fourth  year)  so  as  to  maintain  it  in  the  future ;  but 
England  did  not  adopt  the  "New  Style"  till  1752; 
the  Eastern  nations  have  not  yet  adopted  it ;  so  that 
the  Eastern  Churches  (including  Eussia)  are  now 
reckoning  their  days  by  a  calendar  twelve  days  later 
than  the  "Western  Churches. 

So  long  as  all  the  members  of  a  national  Church 
adopt  the  same  day,  an  error  on  the  subject  is  of  no 
religious  importance ;  but  if  in  the  same  nation,  and 
still  more  in  the  same  city,  different  persons  should 
adopt  different  days,  it  would  cause  undesirable  con- 
fusion. So  long  as  the  British  Church  and  the 
English  Church  remained  separate,  with  little  inter- 
course between  them,  their  different  Easters  might 
be  allowed;  but  when,  as  in  Northumbria,  different 
churches  were  adopting  different  days,  and  when  the 
confusion  reached  its  climax  in  the  fact  that  Oswy 
and  his  household  were  celebrating  Easter  while 
Eanflseda  and  her  attendants  were  still  in  the 
Lenten  Fast,  it  was  time  to  come  to  some  agree- 
ment. 

The  shape  of  the  tonsure  seems  a  very  unimportant 
matter,  but  it  has  some  antiquarian  interest.  The 
custom  of   the  clerical  tonsure  arose  perhaps  from 


136  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

the  desire  to  increase  the  venerableness  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  clergy  by  an  artificial  baldness ;  and 
this  distinction  of  the  clergy  by  head  mark  was 
maintained  partly  for  the  sake  of  the  respect  to  be 
paid  to  them,  partly  for  disciplinary  reasons.  The 
Eastern  tonsure  shaved  the  hair  back  from  the  fore- 
head, in  imitation  of  frontal  baldness ;  the  Western 
tonsure  shaved  the  crown  of  the  head,  in  imitation 
of  coronal  baldness.  The  British  tonsure  differed 
from  both,  and  there  has  been  much  doubt  and 
difficulty  about  it.  The  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  (Dr. 
Dowden)  has  lately  put  forward  the  theory,  and 
produced  some  evidence  in  support  of  it,  that  in  the 
British  tonsure  the  fore  part  of  the  head  was  par- 
tially shaved  up  to  a  line  running  from  ear  to  ear, 
but  leaving  a  narrow  fringe  of  hair  in  front;  so 
that  in  a  front  view  it  looked  like  the  Western 
tonsure,  and  in  a  back  view  no  tonsure  at  all  was 
visible. 

The  British  custom  in  the  consecration  of  bishops 
was  probably  consecration  by  one  bishop.  The  Council 
of  Nicaea  had  directed  that  three  bishops  should  assist 
at  a  consecration,  for  the  greater  honour  of  the  rite 
and  for  greater  security  of  valid  and  regular  succes- 
sion ;  but  it  was  never  disputed  that  the  consecration 
of  one  bishop  was  a  valid  consecration.  The  pecu- 
liarity in  the  administration  of  baptism  was  probably 
by  one  immersion  instead  of  three. 

The  British  Liturgy  was  of  the  family  of  the 
Ephesine  Liturgy,  called  by  the  name  of  St.  John, 
but  in  its  adoption  in  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain,  some 
small  differences  were  adopted  in  each  country.  It 
is    curious   that   the  Ephesine   Liturgy  was    in    the 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    137 

fourth  century  superseded  in  its  own  country  by 
that  of  St.  Chrysostom,  but  survived  in  these  north- 
western nations  of  Europe.  The  British  Liturgy  is 
lost,  but  the  Mosarabic  (Spanish)  form,  from  which  it 
differed  only  in  some  minor  details,  is  stiU  in  actual 
(occasional)  use  in  Spain. 

The  British  version  of  the  Bible  was  founded  on 
the  Old  Latin,  but  is  different  from  Jerome's  Vulgate, 
and  is  peculiar  to  itself. 

These  were  the  matters,  or  some  of  them,  on  which 
Augustine  and  his  assistants  on  one  side,  and  the 
British  bishops  on  the  other,  held  a  "  long  disputa- 
tion " ;  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  British  "  did 
not  comply  with  the  entreaties,  exhortations,  or  re- 
bukes of  Augustine  and  his  companions ;  but  preferred 
their  own  traditions  before  all  the  Churches  in  the 
world  which  in  Christ  agree  among  themselves." 

Then  Augustine  made  the  startling  proposal  to 
submit  the  dispute  to  divine  decision.  "  Let  us,"  he 
said,  "  beg  of  God,  who  causes  those  who  are  of  one 
mind  to  dwell  in  His  Father's  house,  that  He  wiU 
vouchsafe  by  His  heavenly  tokens  to  declare  to  us 
which  tradition  is  to  be  followed.  Let  some  infirm 
person  be  brought,  and  let  the  faith  and  practice  of 
those  by  whose  faith  he  shall  be  healed,  be  looked 
upon  as  acceptable  to  God  and  be  followed  by  alL" 
The  adverse  party  were  taken  by  surprise;  a  belief 
in  such  appeals  to  the  divine  arbitration  was  one  of 
the  common  superstitions  of  the  age ;  they  did  not 
see  their  way  to  refuse  it,  and  it  would  seem  re- 
luctantly consented.  "  A  blind  man  of  the  English 
race  was  brought,  who,  having  been  presented  to  the 
priests  of  the  Britons,  found  no  benefit  or  cure  from 


138  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEKBURY 

their  ministry.  At  length  Augustine  bowed  his  knees 
to  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  praying  that 
the  lost  sight  might  be  restored  to  the  blind  man,  so 
that  by  the  corporeal  enlightening  of  one  man  the 
light  of  spiritual  grace  might  be  kindled  in  the  hearts 
of  many  of  the  faithful.  Immediately  the  blind  man 
received  sight,  and  Augustine  was  declared  by  all  to 
be  the  preacher  of  divine  truth." 

But  the  miracle  had  not  the  desired  effect.  "  The 
Britons  confessed  that  it  was  the  true  way  of 
righteousness  which  Augustine  taught,  but  declared 
that  they  could  not  depart  from  their  ancient  customs 
without  the  consent  and  leave  of  their  people.  They 
therefore  desired  that  a  second  synod  might  be  ap- 
pointed, at  which  more  of  their  number  would  be 
present." 

This  is  the  occasion  to  which  we  have  deferred  the 
general  consideration  of  Augustine's  miracles.  We 
have  already  seen  that  Augustine  is  said  to  have 
worked  miracles  in  the  very  beginning  of  his  work 
in  Kent,  and  that,  in  reporting  his  miracles  to 
Gregory,  he  had  given  occasion  for  very  sharp  rebuke 
on  the  spiritual  elation  which  he  manifested  on 
account  of  them.  This  is  the  first  and  only  actual 
example  of  them  which  is  recorded;  for  the  later 
stories,  related  by  his  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century 
panegyrists,  are  of  no  historical  value. 

The  belief  in  contemporary  miracles  was  general 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  and  still  exists  in  some 
countries,  and  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  sincerely 
religious  and  good  people  may  still  be  ignorant  and 
credulous.  But,  as  a  matter  of  historical  fact,  we 
note  that,  as  we  trace  the  history  of  a  saint  back 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    139 

from  his  latest  panegyrist  to  contemporary  authorities, 
we  find  that  the  list  of  his  miracles  often  grows  ;  i.e., 
the  later  writers  have  included  a  number  of  tradi- 
tional stories  in  their  narrative,  which  were  not 
recorded  by,  and  therefore  probably  not  known  to, 
his  contemporaries.  It  is  known  to  students  of  this 
branch  of  ecclesiastical  literature,  that  certain  miracu- 
lous stories  are  repeated  in  the  lives  of  different 
saints ;  just  as  the  same  deed  of  valour  is  attributed 
to  different  heroes  of  romance. 

But  when  we  get  back  to  the  contemporary  histories 
of  saints,  we  find  that,  beyond  question,  some  of  them 
believed  that  they  possessed  supernatural  power,  and 
that  their  companions  believed  that  they  witnessed 
examples  of  its  exercise.  We  must  bear  in  mind  the 
tendency  of  certain  minds  to  regard  things  out  of  the 
common  order  as  supernatural,  the  tendency  of  the 
persons  to  whom  they  happen  or  who  are  eye-wit- 
nesses of  them,  to  unconscious  exaggeration  of  the 
strangeness  of  the  event,  and  the  certainty  that  the 
story  would  grow  as  it  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
In  the  case  of  healings,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the 
undoubted  fact  that  remarkable  sudden  cures,  of 
certain  classes  of  diseases,  do  occur  under  strong 
mental  excitement,  and  that  the  effect  of  this  excite- 
ment is  greatly  increased  by  the  sympathy  of  an 
excited  crowd,  as  in  times  of  religious  "revivals." 
So  that  we  may  accept  it  as  true  that  some  of  these 
saints  did  effect  cures  which  seemed  to  themselves 
and  to  the  recipients  of  the  cure,  and  to  the  specta- 
tors, to  be  miraculous. 

But  when  we  stand  face  to  face  with  this  circum- 
stantial account  of  the  restoration  of  sight  to  the  blind 


140  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

man  by  Augustine,  we  feel  that  it  cannot  be  explained 
in  this  way.  What  are  we  to  think  of  it  ?  When 
we  examine  the  narrative,  we  note  that  the  British 
bishops  are  said  to  have  accepted  the  proposed  test, 
and  to  have  attempted  to  work  the  miracle  by  their 
prayers ;  and  that  they  are  said  to  have  admitted  the 
reality  of  the  cure  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  Augus- 
tine. But  we  are  most  of  all  struck  by  the  fact  that 
the  miracle  seems  somehow  to  have  failed  of  its  effect. 
The  Britons  were  confounded  by  it,  but  practically 
they  declined  to  accept  its  evidence.  They  postponed 
their  decision  to  a  future  conference;  and  at  that 
future  conference  the  evidence  of  the  miracle  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  alluded  to  on  either  side ;  some- 
how the  Britons  ignored  it,  and  Augustine's  party 
felt  that  it  would  not  help  them.  What  are  we  to 
say  about  it  ?  We  may,  perhaps,  most  conveniently 
return  the  ambiguous  verdict,  which  is  permitted  to  a 
Scotch  jury,  of  "  Not  proven." 

The  second  conference  appears  to  have  been  held 
within  a  short  time  and  at  the  same  place.  The 
Britons  sent  messengers  to  summon  some  of  their 
most  learned  and  influential  men,  especially  from  the 
Monastery  of  Banchor  Iscoed,  so  called  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  other  celebrated  monastery  of  the  same 
name  on  the  Menai  Strait.  This  Banchor  Iscoed  was 
on  the  right  (east)  side  of  the  Dee,  about  twelve  miles 
from  Chester.  Augustine  would  naturally  occupy  the 
interval  in  trying  to  make  some  good  impression  upon 
the  South  Saxon  men  among  whom  he  found  himself. 

Both  parties  had  thought  over  the  situation,  and 
had  adopted  a  policy,  Augustine  had  resolved  to 
reduce  his    demand    for  an  abandonment  of  the  old 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    141 

British  customs  to  a  very  reasonable  minimum — that 
they  would  keep  the  orthodox  Easter,  and  unite  with 
him  in  the  conversion  of  the  English,  which  included 
their  acceptance  of  him  as  their  Archbishop. 

The  Britons,  on  their  side,  had  agreed  among  them- 
selves to  surrender  their  old  customs ;  but  the  point 
on  which  they  hesitated  was  that  of  putting  their 
Church  under  Augustine's  jurisdiction.  There  is  much 
to  be  admired,  both  in  the  tolerance  of  Augustine,  and 
the  willingness  of  the  Britons  to  yield  on  matters 
which,  though  of  no  real  importance,  were  dear  to 
them. 

Augustine  had  tried  to  make  the  decision  rest  upon 
a  miracle ;  the  Britons  made  it  turn  upon  a  prognostic. 
Before  the  learned  men  who  had  been  summoned 
from  Bangor  set  out  on  their  journey  to  the  synod, 
they  consulted  "  a  certain  holy  and  discreet  man  who 
had  led  an  eremitical  life  among  them."  Both  in  the 
Celtic  and  Latin  monasteries,  it  was  not  an  unusual 
thing  that  some  man  of  specially  ascetic  disposition 
lived  the  life  of  a  recluse  in  a  separate  cell  within  the 
monastery.  Not  long  after,  we  find  Cuthbert  living 
such  a  life  at  Lindisfarne.  So  late  as  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  young  King  Eichard  II.,  before  he  went 
out  to  meet  Wat  Tyler's  mob,  consulted  a  hermit 
who  was  living  this  recluse  life  in  the  Monastery  of 
Westminster. 

The  oracle  gave  them  a  characteristically  enigmat- 
ical reply :  "  If  Augustine  is  a  man  of  God,"  he  said, 
"  follow  him."  "  But  how  shall  we  know  that  ? "  said 
they.  He  replied,  "  Our  Lord  saith,  '  Take  My  yoke 
upon  you,  and  learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly 
of  heart.'     It  is  to  be  believed  that  he  has  taken  upon 


142  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

him  the  yoke  of  Christ,  and  offers  the  same  to  you  to 
take  upon  you.  But  if  he  is  stern  and  haughty,  it 
appears  that  he  is  not  of  God,  nor  are  we  to  regard 
his  words."  They  insisted  again,  "  And  how  shall  we 
learn  even  this ? "  "Do  you  contrive,"  said  the  anchorite, 
"  that  he  may  first  arrive  with  his  company  at  the 
place  where  the  synod  is  to  be  held ;  and  if,  at  your 
approach,  he  shall  rise  up  to  you,  hear  him  submiss- 
ively, being  assured  that  he  is  the  servant  of  Christ ; 
but  if  he  shall  despise  you,  and  not  rise  up  to  you, 
whereas  you  are  more  in  number,  let  him  also  be 
despised  by  you." 

Let  it  be  noted  that  the  real  point  in  question  was 
the  acceptance  of  obedience  to  the  See  of  Canterbury ; 
and  that  the  British  Church  was  prepared,  both  to 
conform  without  reserve  to  the  customs  of  the  con- 
tinental Churches,  to  unite  with  Augustine  in  forming 
one  Church,  and  to  accept  under  his  leadership  their 
share  in  the  conversion  of  the  English.  What  an 
opportunity  lost !  While  we  admire  the  large- 
heartedness  of  the  general  willingness  to  surrender 
cherished  customs,  and  to  accept  a  novel  yoke,  let  us 
not  despise  the  practical  sagacity  of  the  "  discreet  and 
holy  hermit."  The  inclination  of  straws  shows  which 
way  the  wind  blows.  The  very  heart  of  the  question 
was  the  spirit  in  whicli  Augustine  as  a  ruler  would 
exercise  his  authority ;  and  the  manner  of  his  recep- 
tion of  them  was  a  fair  test  of  the  spirit  in  which  he 
regarded  them  now,  and  would  treat  them  after- 
wards. 

Alas !  as  they  approached  the  place  of  meeting, 
they  found  Augustine  seated  in  a  chair  under  the 
shadow  of  the  great  oak  tree  famous  in  after  ages  as 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    143 

Augustine's  Oak,  surrounded  by  his  attendant  priests 
and  monks.  The  more  numerous  company  which 
approached  him  consisted  of  seven  bishops,  the  monks 
of  Bangor,  and  others  their  most  learned  men,  the 
formal  representatives  of  the  ancient  and  independent 
British  Church.  Alas !  Augustine  retained  his  seat, 
like  a  sovereign  receiving  a  humble  deputation  of 
his  subjects.  The  question  was  decided.  They  said 
among  themselves,  "  If  he  would  not  now  rise  up  to 
us,  how  much  more  will  he  condemn  us  as  of  no 
worth,  if  we  shall  put  ourselves  under  his  subjection  ?  " 

The  proceedings  of  the  conference  which  followed 
are  briefly  summed  up  by  the  historian.  Augustine 
said  to  them :  "  You  act  in  many  particulars  contrary 
to  our  custom,  or  rather  the  custom  of  the  universal 
Church ;  yet  if  you  will  comply  with  me  in  these 
three  points,  viz.  to  keep  Easter  at  the  due  time ;  to 
administer  baptism,  by  which  we  are  again  born  to 
God,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  holy  Eoman 
Apostolic  Church ;  and,  jointly  with  us,  to  preach  the 
Word  of  God  to  the  English  nation,  we  will  readily 
tolerate  all  the  other  things  you  do,  though  contrary 
to  our  customs."  They  answered,  "  They  would  do 
none  of  these  things,  nor  receive  him  as  their  Arch- 
bishop." 

There  is  a  very  unpleasant  sequel  to  the  history 
of  the  synod  which  must  not  be  omitted,  since  it 
reflects  light  upon  the  beliefs  of  the  time,  and  intro- 
duces an  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  people. 
"  Augustine  is  said,  in  a  threatening  manner,  to  have 
foretold  that,  if  they  would  not  join  in  unity  with 
their  brethren,  they  should  be  warred  upon  by  their 
enemies ;  and  if  they  would  not  preach  the  way  of 


144  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

life  to  the  English  nation,  they  should  at  their  hands 
undergo  the  vengeance  of  death." 

Very  likely  Augustine,  in  the  anger  of  his  dis- 
appointment, said  words  to  that  effect.  They  were 
the  obvious  things  for  an  angry  man  to  say  in  the 
circumstances.  It  was  the  future  event  which  made 
men  recall  his  words  to  mind,  and  assign  to  them  the 
character  of  prophecy.  A  few  years  afterwards  (613 
A.D.),  when,  as  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  say,  the 
Northumbrians  made  another  great  movement  west- 
ward, and  conquered  Bath,  Gloucester,  and  Cirencester, 
the  Britons  made  a  last  stand  near  Chester,  and  one  of 
the  decisive  battles  of  the  English  conquest  was  fought, 
which  resulted  in  the  intrusion  of  the  West  Saxon 
territory  between  Wales  and  Cumbria.  The  Welsh 
authorities  say  that  four  princes  of  the  native  race  had 
united  their  force  to  resist  the  aggression,  viz.  Brocmail, 
the  Prince  of  Powis;  Cad  van,  King  of  Britain;  Morgan, 
King  of  Demetia ;  and  Bledericus,  King  of  Cornwall. 
One  of  the  incidents  of  the  battle  is  thus  narrated  by 
Bede : — "  A  great  number  of  priests  and  monks  had 
come  on  the  field  to  pray  for  the  success  of  their 
fellow-countrymen  in  the  battle."  Most  of  them  were 
of  the  neighbouring  Monastery  of  Bangor,  in  which  it 
is  reported  there  was  so  great  a  number  of  monks, 
that  "  the  monastery  was  divided  into  seven  parts,  with 
a  ruler  over  each ;  and  none  of  these  parts  contained 
less  than  three  hundred  men,  who  all  lived  by  the 
labour  of  their  hands."  It  is  a  very  interesting 
side-light  upon  the  organisation  of  the  vast  Celtic 
monasteries. 

Many  of  these,  having  observed  a  fast  of  three 
days,  resolved  among  others  to  pray  at  the  aforesaid 


NEGOTIATION  WITH  THE  BRITISH  CHURCH    145 

battle ;  and  Brocmail,  the  Prince  of  Powis,  had  been 
appointed  with  his  followers  to  protect  them. 

Ethelred,  King  of  Northumbria,  the  leader  of  the 
English  army,  inquired  who  these  men  were,  and,  being 
told  of  the  purpose  of  their  coming,  said :  "  If  they 
cry  to  their  God  against  us,  then,  though  they  do  not 
bear  arms,  they  fight  against  us  with  their  prayers," 
and  he  commanded  the  first  assault  to  be  made  against 
them.  Brocmail,  seeing  his  detached  post  thus 
attacked  by  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy,  withdrew 
his  men,  and  left  the  hapless  monks  to  be  massacred. 
About  twelve  hundred  of  them  were  slain,  and  only 
about  fifty  escaped  by  flight ;  and  their  monastery  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  superstition  of 
the  time  recalled  the  words  of  Augustine,  and  gave  to 
them  the  character  of  a  prophecy. 

We  cannot  acquit  Gregory  of  having  made  a  great 
mistake  in  the  light-hearted  way  in  which,  in  the  first 
instance,  he  took  upon  himself  to  command  the  British 
bishops  to  be  instructed  and  ruled  by  Augustine. 
"We  have  had  occasion  to  note  other  evidences  that 
Gregory  knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  actual  condition 
of  the  British  Church  of  the  time. 

Augustine,  with  his  local  knowledge,  better  under- 
stood the  situation,  and  approached  the  British  Church 
with  a  certain  amount  of  diplomatic  skill,  but  his 
haughty  reception  of  the  British  bishops  and  their 
companions  was  a  lamentable  blunder;  and  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  it  was  characteristic  of  his  temper, 
and  of  his  view  of  the  relations  which  were  to 
exist  between  himself  and  them.  We  have  very  few 
personal  traits  of  Augustine  all  through  the  history, 
and  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  them ;  and 

lO 


146  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEKBURY 

it  cannot  but  influence  our  general  estimate  of  his 
character. 

We  observe  that  Augustine  did  not  demand  the 
submission  of  the  British  Church  to  the  authority  of 
the  Eoman  See  as  of  divine  right,  or  pass  any  sort 
of  sentence  of  excommunication  upon  the  bishops  for 
their  refusal  to  accept  his  proposal.  The  pretensions 
of  Eome  had  not  yet  grown  to  such  a  height. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

The  Endeavour  to  extend  the  Church  to  the 
OTHER  English  Kingdoms 

Upon  the  failure  of  the  Synod  of  the  Oak,  the  King 
and  Archbishop  turned  their  attention  to  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Church  to  the  other  nations  of  the 
English  by  their  own  resources.  Throughout  the 
English  conversion,  political  influence  and  family 
relations  played  a  very  unusually  important  part  in 
the  extension  of  the  work.  It  was  Queen  Bertha's 
Christianity  which  induced  Ethelbert  to  give  a  friendly 
reception  to  Augustine's  mission,  and  a  favourable  ear 
to  his  teaching.  Now  it  is  Ethelbert's  political  influ- 
ence as  Bretwalda  which  makes  a  way  for  the  exten- 
sion of  the  good  work  to  the  neighbouring  kingdoms. 
In  the  year  604,  says  Bede,  Augustine,  Archbishop  of 
Britain,  ordained  two  bishops,  viz.  Mellitus  and  Justus, 
to  Episcopal  Sees  at  London  and  at  Eochester. 

The  Saxons  who  conquered  and  settled  in  the  part 
of  the  country  between  the  Thames  and  the  Stour,  and 
who  penetrated  for  some  miles  westward  of  London, 
probably  came  under  several  independent  leaders,  but 
for  some  generations  they  had  been  united  into  one 
Kingdom  of  the  East  Saxons,  with  a  tribal  division 
into  East  Saxons  (Essex)  and  Middle  Saxons  (Middle- 
sex),  and    London  was  the   capital   of   the  kingdom. 

147 


14ff  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

London  had  been  a  Koman  town,  not  a  great  fort- 
ress, but  a  considerable  emporium  of  trade. 
Whether  the  invaders  sacked  and  burnt  it  and  left  it 
waste,  or  whether  the  tide  of  invasion  flowed  round  it 
and  left  it  uninjured,  no  ancient  history  has  recorded, 
and  the  modern  historians  are  not  agreed  upon  the 
subject.  But  if  the  former  were  the  case,  the  site  was 
one  which  offered  commercial  advantages  so  great  that 
it  would  not  long  be  left  unoccupied.  In  those  days, 
the  Thames  below  London  spread  over  the  low  lands 
on  each  side  of  its  present  confined  bed,  and  presented 
the  appearance  at  high  tide  of  a  great  arm  of  the  sea, 
into  which  the  river  entered  at  about  the  point  where 
London  stands ;  and  there  a  rising  ground  above  the 
marshes  afforded  a  good  site  for  a  town.  Moreover,  it 
was  the  first  place  where  travellers  who  had  landed  at 
Eichborough  and  coasted  the  south  side  of  this  arm  of 
the  sea,  could  conveniently  cross  to  the  northern  side 
of  the  barrier  and  gain  access  to  the  heart  of  the 
country.  It  is  probable  that  there  was  a  bridge  here 
as  early  as  the  Eoman  times.  Bede  says  that  at  this 
time  it  was  "  the  mart  of  many  nations,  resorting  to  it 
by  sea  and  land."  It  would  therefore  be  an  important 
position  for  the  establishment  of  a  new  centre  of 
missionary  work.  The  late  King,  Sledda,  had  sought 
Eicula,  a  sister  of  Ethelbert,  in  marriage  ;  Seberht  was 
therefore  Ethelbert's  nephew.  Bede  says  that  Ethel- 
bert had  placed  him  upon  the  throne,  which  looks  as 
if  Ethelbert  had  made  himself  master  of  the  East 
Saxons  by  force  of  arms,  and  had  continued  Seberht  as 
sub-King,  according  to  the  usual  poHcy  of  the  times. 

We  are  told  nothing  of  the  details  of  the  conversion, 
but  we  seem  to  gather  that  Seberht  was  invited  to  the 


THE  ENDEAVOUR  TO  EXTEND  THE  CHURCH  149 

court  of  the  Bretwaldu,  and  .there,  by  the  influence  of 
Ethelbert  and  the  teaching  of  Augustine,  was  induced 
to  embrace  the  faith,  and  to  consent  to  countenance 
the  endeavours  of  MelUtus  to  convert  the  East  Saxon 
people.  Again,  we  are  not  told  whether  Mellitus  went 
first,  according  to  the  usual  ecclesiastical  policy  of  the 
time,  and  gathered  a  Christian  flock  together,  and  then 
came  back  to  Canterbury  for  ordination  as  a  bishop 
over  them ;  or  whether,  as  in  the  subsequent  case  of 
Paulinus,  he  was  consecrated  at  once,  and  returned 
with  King  Seberht  to  begin  to  gather  a  flock  out  of 
the  East  Saxon  people,  under  the  King's  protection  and 
influence.  What  we  are  told  is  that  Ethelbert  built 
the  first  church  in  London.  We  know  from  the 
subsequent  narrative  that  MelUtus  laboured  there 
during  the  remaining  twelve  years  of  Seberht's  life  and 
reign,  and  from  the  apostasy  of  the  people  and  the 
flight  of  Mellitus  on  Seberht's  death,  we  gather  that  his 
labours  were  not  very  successful. 

The  case  of  Eochester  presents  some  features 
difficult  to  explain.  We  suppose  that,  as  the  East 
Saxon  kmgdom  was  made  up  out  of  various  independ- 
ent groups  of  settlements,  which  had  first  coalesced 
into  two  groups,  the  East  Saxon  and  the  Middle 
Saxon,  and  the  chief  of  the  East  Saxons  had  finally 
combined  the  two  groups  into  one  kingdom,  so  there 
had  been  a  subdivision  of  the  Jutes,  who  had  occupied 
the  north-west  corner  of  Kent  (perhaps  under  the 
leadership  of  Eholf),  and  had  accepted,  or  been 
reduced  by  arms  to  submit  to,  the  rule  of  the  King  of 
Kent.  We  are  told,  without  any  details,  that  Augus- 
tine ordained  Justus  as  Bishop  at  Eochester,  and  that 
Ethelbert  built  him  a  church  there,  which  was  dedicated 


150  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

to  St.  Andrew  (the  patron  saint,  it  will  be  remembered, 
of  Gregory's  monastery  on  the  Csehan  Hill). 

There  was  always  a  special  relation  between  the 
Bishop  of  Kochester  and  the  Archbishop  of  Kent, 
which  seems  to  arise  out  of  the  relations  between  this 
north-western  tribe  and  the  rest  of  the  kingdom.  The 
Bishop  of  Eochester  was  the  Archbishop's  suffragan  in 
a  special  sense ;  he  was  always  nominated  by  the 
Archbishop,  he  took  a  special  vow  of  obedience  to  the 
Archbishop,  and  acted  as  his  cross-bearer. 

It  was  probably  about  the  same  time  that  an 
attempt  was  made  to  introduce  Christianity  into  the 
Kingdom  of  East  Angha.  In  this  case  we  are  expressly 
told  that  Eedwald,  the  King  of  the  East  Angles,  was 
admitted  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
Kent.  No  bishop  was  consecrated  for  East  Anglia, 
but  Eedwald  must,  from  what  we  are  subsequently 
told,  have  taken  a  priest  back  with  him.  The 
attempt,  however,  did  not  succeed.  We  have  here 
another  of  the  numerous  examples  of  the  influence 
of  women  of  high  birth  in  the  English  conversion,  but 
this  time  it  was  exercised  effectively  against  the  faith. 
Eedwald,  on  his  return  home,  found  himself  opposed  by 
his  Queen  and  "  certain  perverse  teachers,"  in  his  wisli 
to  introduce  Christianity.  The  result  was  an  unseemly 
compromise.  "  In  the  same  temple  he  had  an  altar 
to  sacrifice  to  Christ "  for  his  own  worship,  "  and 
another  small  one  to  offer  victims  to  devils  "  for  the 
worship  of  his  Queen  no  doubt,  after  the  national  rites 
to  which  she  adhered.  In  such  circumstances,  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  new  faith  made  no  impression  on 
the  people ;  and  on  Eedwald's  death  entirely  died  out. 
To  anticipate  a  little,  Eorpwald,  the  son  of  Eedwald, 


THE  ENDEAVOUR  TO  EXTEND  THE  CHURCH  151 

was  converted  in  Northumbria,  under  the  influence  of 
King  Edwin,  but  was  shortly  assassinated.  Sigebert, 
the  brother  and  successor  of  Eorpwald,  returned  from 
exile  in  Burgundy  a  Christian,  and  his  people  were  at 
length  Christianised  by  Felix  the  Burgundian  and 
Fursey  the  Celt. 


CHAPTER    XX 

The  Episcopacy  of  Laukentius 

The  consecration  of  Mellitus  and  Justus,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  new  mission  centres  in  Eochester  and 
London,  are  the  last  recorded  incidents  of  Augustine's 
work,  with  the  exception  of  that  which  was  to  provide 
a  successor  to  himself.  We  have  no  knowledge  of 
Augustine's  age,  and  cannot  tell  whether  it  was  a 
feeling  of  growing  infirmities  or  a  premonition  of 
mortal  sickness  which  led  him  to  provide  for  the 
succession  in  his  own  lifetime. 

When  Mellitus  and  Justus  were  put  at  the  head 
of  the  new  missions,  and  promoted  to  the  dignity  of 
the  episcopate,  Augustine  retained  by  his  own  side 
one  who  had  still  higher  claims,  to  be  his  own  assistant 
and  successor.  Laurentius  the  Priest  would  seem  to 
have  been  the  ablest  of  the  band  of  men  who  came 
to  Britain  with  Augustine.  It  was  he  whom  Augustine 
sent  back  to  Eome,  to  convey  the  news  of  the  success 
of  the  mission,  and  to  ask  for  further  directions.  He 
conducted  the  second  mission  party  from  Eome, 
through  Gaul,  to  Britain ;  and  in  the  letters  of  introduc- 
tion which  the  party  carried  from  Gregory  to  the  rulers 
and  bishops  of  Gaul,  "  Laurentius  the  Priest,  my  dearly 
beloved  son,  whose  devotion  is  well  known  to  me,"  is 
always  mentioned  before  Mellitus  the  Abbot,  as  the  head 

168 


THE  EPISCOPACY  OF  LAURENTIUS  153 

of  the  party.  It  was  Laurentius  whom  Augustine 
had  chosen  to  be  his  successor.  His  reason  for  con- 
secrating hini  himself,  in  his  own  lifetime,  instead  of 
leaving  his  consecration  to  Mellitus  and  Justus,  with 
or  without  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  Gallic  bishops, 
is  stated  by  Bede.  It  was,  "  lest,  upon  his  death,  the 
state  of  the  Church,  as  yet  unsettled,  might  begin  to 
falter,  if  it  should  be  destitute  of  a  pastor,  yea,  but  an 
hour."  Augustine  would  probably  associate  Melhtus 
and  Justus  with  himself  in  the  consecration,  Lauren- 
tius was  consecrated  early  in  604;  in  a  charter  of 
Ethelbert,  making  a  grant  to  Eochester,  the  genuine- 
ness of  which  is  not  disputed,  Laurentius  is  described 
as  already  bishop,  on  28th  April  604. 

During  the  remainder  of  Augustine's  life  Laurentius 
would  be  his  coadjutor-bishop;  that  remainder  was  not  a 
long  one.  In  the  following  spring — probably  2  6  th  May, 
605 — the  Apostle  of  Kent  died,  and  went  to  his  reward. 
The  new  monastery  being  not  yet  so  far  advanced  that 
the  first  Archbishop  could  be  at  once  placed  in  its 
north  porch,  according  to  the  design  of  its  founders, 
he  was  temporarily  buried  in  the  ground  near  at  hand. 

The  death  of  Augustine  does  not  bring  our  narrat- 
ive to  a  natural  conclusion.  His  work  continued 
after  his  death  in  the  hands  of  his  companions.  The 
time  was  not  come  for  forming  an  estimate  of  the 
man  and  the  work  as  a  whole.  It  is  the  same  work, 
carried  on  on  the  same  lines,  though  the  main  direc- 
tion of  it  passes  from  Augustine  to  Laurentius,  from 
Laurentius  to  Mellitus,  from  Mellitus  to  Justus,  from 
Justus  to  Honorius;  and  the  history  comes  to  its 
natural  termination  when  Theodore  of  Tarsus  comes  in 
from  outside  and  begins  a  new  era. 


164  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBUEY 

The  episcopate  of  Laureutius  extended  over  fifteen 
years.  During  the  earlier  portion  of  it  the  great  work 
in  hand  was  the  building  of  the  new  monastery. 
Ethelbert  and  Bertha,  with  their  nobles,  are  said  to 
have  celebrated  there  the  Christmas  of  605  a.d. 

Laurentius  "  laboured  indef atigably,  both  by  frequent 
exhortations  and  examples  of  piety,  to  raise  to  perfec- 
tion the  foundations  of  the  Church  which  had  been 
so  nobly  laid.  Nor  did  he  limit  his  solicitude  to  the 
Kentish  men.  He,  associating  with  himself  his 
brother  bishops,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Scots  of  Ireland, 
which  is  full  of  information  as  to  the  religious  situa- 
tion.    It  begins : — 

"  To  our  most  dear  Brothers  the  Lord  Bishops 
and  Abbots  throughout  all  Scotland^ — 
Laurentius,  Mellitus,  and  Justus,  Servants 
of  the  Servants  of  God. 

"When  the  Apostolic  See,  according  to  the 
universal  custom  which  it  has  followed  elsewhere,^ 
sent  us  to  these  western  parts  to  preach  to  pagan 
nations,  we  came  into  this  island  which  is  called 
Britain,  without  possessing  any  previous  knowledge  of 
its  inhabitants.  We  held  both  the  Britons  and  Scots 
in  great  esteem  for  sanctity,  believing  that  they  had 
proceeded  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Early 
Church.  On  becoming  acquainted  with  the  errors  of 
the  Britons,  we  still  thought  that  the  Scots  had  been 

^  I.e.  Ireland.  The  Scots  were  the  predominant  population  in 
Ireland,  and  that  island  was  generally  called  Scotia,  or  Insula 
Scotorum,  by  the  writers  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries.  The 
name  Scotia,  or  Scotland,  as  applied  to  the  northern  half  of  Britain, 
is  of  comparatively  modern  origin. 

^  A  very  bold  statement,  not  borne  out  by  the  facts  of  history. 


THE  EPISCOPACY  OF  LAURENTIUS  155 

better ;  but  we  have  been  informed  by  Bishop  Dagan 
[said  to  have  belonged  to  Bangor  in  Ireland],  coming 
into  this  aforesaid  island,  and  by  the  Abbot  Colum- 
banus  in  France,^  that  the  Scots  in  no  way  differ  from 

^  This  dispute  between  tlie  two  schools  about  the  time  of  Easter  had 
been  introduced  into  Gaul  by  the  mission  of  Columbanus.  As  early 
as  the  year  599,  a  correspondence  had  taken  place  between  that 
eminent  missionary — the  founder  of  Annegray,  Luxeuil,  Bregenz,  and 
Bobbio — and  Gregory,  in  which  the  Celtic  Apostle  expresses  all  duo 
reverence  for  Gregory's  position,  but  asserts  his  own  independence, 
and  refuses  to  alter  what  he  believes  to  be  right.  A  little  later — 
602  A.D. — the  Frank  bishops  convened  a  synod  to  consider  how  they 
should  act  towards  him.  He  expresses  his  thankfulness  that  he  has 
been  the  occasion  of  their  meeting  in  synod,  and  wishes  that  they 
met  more  frequently,  as  the  canons  require.  He  refers  them  to  his 
con-espondence  with  Gregory  on  the  Eastern  question,  and  concludes 
with  an  eloquent  appeal,  Avhich  is  worth  extracting,  as  an  illustration 
of  the  spirit  of  the  Celtic  fathers,  even  while  asserting  their  independ- 
ence and  adhering  to  their  own  customs: — "I  came  as  a  stranger 
among  you,  on  behalf  of  our  common  Lord  and  Master,  Jesus  Christ. 
In  His  name,  I  beseech  you,  let  me  live  in  peace  and  quiet,  as  I  have 
lived  for  twelve  years  in  these  woods,  beside  the  bones  of  my  seven- 
teen departed  brethren.  Let  Gaul  receive  into  her  bosom  all  who,  if 
they  deserve  it,  will  meet  in  one  heaven.  For  we  have  one  kingdom 
promised  us,  and  one  hope  of  our  calling  in  Christ,  Avith  whom  we 
shall  reign  together,  if  first  we  suffer  with  Him  here  on  earth.  Choose 
ye  which  rule  respecting  Easter  ye  prefer  to  follow,  remembering  the 
words  of  the  apostle  :  'Prove  all  things ;  holdfast  that  which  is  good.' 
But  let  us  not  quarrel  one  with  another,  lest  our  enemies,  the  Jews, 
the  heretics,  and  pagan  Gentiles,  rejoice  in  our  contention."  And  he 
concludes:  "Pray  for  us,  my  fathers,  even  as  we,  humble  as  we  are, 
pray  for  you.  Regard  us  not  as  strangers,  for  we  arc  members 
together  of  one  body,  whether  we  be  Gauls,  or  Britons,  or  Iberians, 
or  to  whatever  nation  we  belong.  Therefore  let  us  all  rejoice  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  faith  and  the  revelation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  let 
us  strive  earnestly  to  attain  together,  even  to  the  perfect  man,  to  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ,  in  communion  with 
whom  let  us  learn  to  love  one  another,  and  praise  one  another,  and 
correct  one  another,  and  pray  for  one  another,  that  with  Him  we  may 
together  reign  for  evermore. " 


156  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

the  Britons  in  their  behaviour;  for  Bishop  Dagan 
coming  to  us  not  only  refused  to  eat  with  us,  but  even 
to  take  his  repast  in  the  same  house  where  we  were 
entertained."  The  English  bishops  also  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  priests  of  Britain,  in  which  they  repeated  the  old 
exhortations  to  Catholic  unity,  but  with  no  success. 

About  this  time,  says  Bede,  Mellitus,  Bishop  of 
London,  went  to  Eome,  to  confer  with  Pope  Boniface, 
Gregory's  successor,  about  the  necessary  affairs  of  the 
English  Church.  He  gives  us  no  clue  to  the  nature 
of  the  affairs,  and  the  importance  of  the  note  lies  in 
the  knowledge  it  conveys,  that  communication  was 
maintamed  with  Eome,  of  which  we  shall  have  several 
subsequent  instances. 

While  Mellitus  was  at  Eome,  a  synod  of  Italian 
bishops  was  held,  which  Mellitus  attended,  "  that  also 
by  his  authority  he  might  confirm  such  things  as 
should  be  regularly  decreed,  and  at  his  return  into 
Britain,  might  carry  the  same  to  the  churches  of  the 
English  to  be  prescribed  and  observed." 

The  Abbey  Church  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  was  at 
length  completed  and  ready  to  be  consecrated  in  the 
time  of  Laurentius,  but  in  what  year  is  not  known ; 
Thorn  gives  it  as  613.  The  remains  of  Augustine 
were  then  taken  from  their  temporary  resting-place 
in  the  ground  hard  by,  and  deposited  in  the  north 
porticus ;  and  the  name  of  St.  Augustine  was  associated 
with  those  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  in  the  dedication. 


CHAPTEE   XXI 

The  Death  of  Ethelbekt;  the  Apostasy 

The  greatest  event  in  the  episcopate  of  Laurentius 
was  the  death  of  Ethelbert,  which  took  place  24th 
February,  616  A.D.  He  was  buried  in  the  south 
portico  of  the  newly  -  consecrated  Church  of  St. 
Augustine's  Abbey,  which  had  been  always  intended 
to  be  the  royal  mausoleum. 

The  results  which  followed  upon  his  death  shed 
back  light  upon  the  character  of  the  man,  and  open 
up  a  new  revelation  of  the  present  religious  condition 
of  the  people.  Ethelbert  was  peacefully  succeeded 
by  his  son  Eadbald.  The  fact  that  the  Bretwaldaship 
at  once  passed  away  from  Kent  to  Eedwald,  King 
of  the  East  Angles,  who  had  been  subservient  to 
Ethelbert,  not  as  the  result  of  any  victory  of  East 
AngKa  over  Kent,  seems  to  lead  to  the  inference  that 
it  was  the  different  character  of  Ethelbert  and  Eadbald 
which  led  to  the  changed  political  relations  between 
the  Kingdom  of  Kent  and  the  other  southern  kingdoms. 

Now,  too,  we  learn  how  much  the  work  of  the  Church 
among  the  English  had  been  indebted  to  the  authority 
and  influence  of  Ethelbert ;  for  on  his  death  occurred 
a  great  and  widespread  reaction  which  threatened 
the  work  of  Augustine  with  destruction.  We  are  a 
little    surprised   to    find    that   Eadbald    had   never 

16T 


168  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

been  baptized,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  his  own 
master  he  revolted  from  the  restraint  of  Christianity. 
He  was  urged  thereto  by  the  desire  to  contract 
a  marriage  in  a  forbidden  degree,  about  which 
Augustine  long  ago  had  consulted  Gregory,  as  if  he 
had  found  it  a  common  custom  among  the  heathen 
Kentish  men,  for  on  his  father's  death  he  took  his 
widowed  stepmother  in  marriage.  We  thus,  for  the 
first  time,  become  acquainted  with  the  fact  that 
Queen  Bertha  had  been  sometime  dead,  and  that 
Ethelbert  had  married  again.  Who  the  new  Queen 
was  is  quite  unknown,  the  historians  appear  to  have 
purposely  withheld  all  information  about  her.  The 
King's  example  led  others  who  had  abandoned  un- 
lawful connections  to  revert  to  them,  and  encouraged 
all  who  were  disinclined  to  the  new  religion. 

Shortly  after,  Seberht,  King  of  the  East  Saxons, 
died,  leaving  his  three  sons  as  his  heirs.  They  had 
seemed  to  conform  to  Christianity  during  their  father's 
lifetime,  but  now  they  reverted  to  the  old  religion, 
and  granted  liberty  to  all  their  people  to  follow  their 
evil  example.  An  anecdote  which  Bede  relates  proves 
that  these  three  East  Saxon  princes  had  not  been 
baptized ;  and  we  are  led  to  the  serious  inference  that 
if  the  very  sons  of  the  Christian  kings  were  still  out- 
side the  pale  of  the  Church,  it  is  most  likely  that 
many  others  of  their  principal  men,  and  great  numbers 
of  the  common  people,  were  still  heathen.  The  East 
Saxon  princes  compelled  Mellitus  and  his  followers  to 
depart  from  their  kingdom. 

The  details  of  the  reaction  at  Eochester  are  not 
recorded.  All  we  know  is  that  Justus  abandoned 
his   See,    and    both   Mellitus   and   Justus   retired   to 


THE  DEATH  OF  ETHELBERT  ;   THE  APOSTASY    159 

Canterbury.  On  consultation,  "it  was  unanimously- 
agreed  that  it  was  better  for  them  all  to  return 
to  their  own  country,  where  they  might  serve  God 
in  freedom,  than  to  continue  without  any  advan- 
tage among  those  barbarians  who  had  revolted  from 
the  faith."  The  words  seem  to  mean  that  the  apostasy 
was  very  general,  and  that  the  whole  body  of  the 
Italians  proposed  to  abandon  the  work.  "  Mellitus 
and  Justus  accordingly  went  first,  and  withdrew  into 
France,  designing  there  to  await  the  event  of  things.  .  . 
Laurentius,  being  about  to  follow  them,  and  to  quit 
Britain,"  ordered  his  bed  to  be  laid  on  the  last  night 
in  the  church  of  the  monastery.  There,  Bede  relates, 
St.  Peter  appeared  to  him,  scourged  him  severely,  and 
demanded  "  why  he  would  forsake  the  flock  which 
he  had  committed  to  him  ?  or  to  what  shepherds 
would  he  commit  Christ's  sheep  that  were  in  the 
midst  of  wolves  ? "  and  other  words  to  the  same  pur- 
pose. "We  might  explain  this  as  the  vivid  dream  of 
a  mind  harassed  and  excited  by  doubts  of  the  law- 
fulness of  abandoning  the  work,  but  that  the  sequel 
of  the  narrative  asserts  that  the  stripes  were  real. 
What  can  be  said  about  the  supernatural  scourging  ? 
Is  it  possible  that  St.  Peter's  reproaches,  in  his  dream, 
awakened  his  conscience  to  the  sin  of  deserting  the 
post  of  duty,  and  that,  in  his  dream,  St.  Peter 
enjoined  the  penance  which  the  bishop  therefore 
attributes  to  the  apostle,  though  the  stripes  were 
inflicted  by  his  own  hand  ?  Next  morning  Laurentius 
went  to  the  King,  stripped  his  shoulders,  and  showed 
him  the  marks  of  the  stripes  which  he  had  received. 
The  King  asked  in  astonishment  who  had  dared  thus 
to   iU- treat   so  great  a  man ;  whereupon  Laurentius 


160  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

told  his  vision.  The  preternatural  occurrence  had  so 
great  an  effect  upon  Eadbald,  that  he  abjured  the 
worship  of  idols,  renounced  his  unlawful  marriage, 
embraced  the  faith  of  Christ,  was  baptized,  and  pro- 
moted the  welfare  of  the  Church  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power.  The  nameless  Queen  ultimately  appears 
to  have  retired  with  a  daughter,  Mildred,  to  the 
Monastery  of  Lyminge.  Eadbald  soon  after  sought 
for  a  wife,  after  his  father's  example,  in  the  house 
of  Clovis,  and  married  Emma,  the  daughter  of  Theode- 
bert.  King  of  Austrasia. 

The  East  Saxon  princes  were  shortly  afterwards 
slain  in  battle  against  the  West  Saxons ;  but  the 
people  "  having  turned  back  to  their  old  idolatry,  would 
not  be  corrected  nor  return  to  the  unity  of  faith  and 
charity  which  is  in  Christ."  For  when  Eadbald  sent 
over  to  France  and  recalled  MeUitus  and  Justus,  just 
a  year  after  their  departure,  Justus  had  no  difficulty 
in  resuming  his  See  at  Eochester ;  but  the  Londoners 
would  not  receive  their  bishop  back  again,  choosing 
rather  to  be  under  their  idolatrous  high-priest.  It 
does  not  appear  that  any  progress  had  been  made 
among  the  East  Saxons  outside  London.  The  evan- 
gelisation of  the  whole  people  had  to  wait  till  Cedd 
came  from  Lindisfarne  and  set  up  mission  stations  at 
Ithanacester  (Bradwell-on-Sea)  on  the  Blackwater, 
and  at  East  Tilbury  on  the  Thames  ;  his  successor 
Earconwald  set  up  his  bishop-stool  again  in  London. 


CHAPTEE   XXII 

The  Mission  to  Northumbkia 

It  is  probable  that  Bishop  Laurentius  died  soon  after 
the  events  last  mentioned,  in  the  year  619  a.d.  He 
was  succeeded  in  the  See  of  Canterbury  by  Mellitus, 
who  appears  to  have  been  living  there  since  his 
final  expulsion  from  London.  He  ruled  the  Church 
of  Canterbury  for  five  years.  We  know  little  about 
him.  He  was  noble  by  birth,  but  much  nobler  in 
mind,  "  cheerfully  passing  over  all  earthly  things,  and 
always  aspiring  to  love,  seek,  and  attain  to  those 
which  are  celestial."  It  gives  a  touch  of  human 
interest  to  know  that  he  was  subject  to  gout.  On 
one  occasion,  when  an  accidental  fire  was  raging 
among  the  timber  buildings  of  the  city,  and  a  south 
wind  was  carrying  the  conflagration  towards  the 
cathedral  buildings,  the  bishop  had  himself  carried  to 
the  flames,  and  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  wind 
from  south  to  north,  which  stopped  the  progress  of  the 
flames,  was  attributed  to  his  prayers.  The  incidental 
statement  that  the  Church  of  the  Four  Crowned 
Martyrs  stood  at  the  place  where  the  fire  raged  most, 
acquaints  us  with  the  fact  that  another  church,  with 
that  dedication,  had  been  built  in  the  city,  probably 
to  afford  accommodation  to  the  increasing  number  of 
Christians  among  its  population.  The  unusual  dedi- 
II 


162  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

cation  of  this  new  church  is  accounted  for  in  an 
interesting  way.  Honorius,  Bishop  of  Eome,  built  a 
church  in  626  a.d.  to  the  Four  Crowned  Martyrs 
(Carporferus,  Severus,  Severianus,  and  Victorianus), 
on  the  ridge  of  the  Caelian  Hill.  As  the  Roman 
missionaries  had  dedicated  Eochester  Cathedral  to  St. 
Andrew,  the  patron  saint  of  their  old  monastery,  and 
the  temple  on  whose  site  the  monastery  was  built 
to  St.  Pancras,  because  their  old  monastery  was 
partly  on  the  site  of  the  estates  of  the  family  of  the 
boy  martyr,  so  now  they  give  to  their  new  church 
the  same  dedication  as  that  of  Honorius's  church  in 
the  near  neighbourhood  of  their  old  home  at  Eome. 
Ethelbald  built  a  church,  dedicated  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  eastward  of  the  great  Church  of  St. 
Augustine's  monastery,  which  was  consecrated  by  Mel- 
litus.  Mellitus  died  in  624  A.D.,  and  was  buried 
with  his  predecessors  in  the  north  porticus  of  the 
monastic  church. 

Justus,  Bishop  of  Eochester,  succeeded  Mellitus  in 
the  archbishopric,  and  consecrated  Eomanus  as  Bishop 
of  Eochester  in  his  own  stead.  He  seems  to  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  the 
Bishop  of  Eome  for  this  step.  Boniface  sent  him  the 
pall,  which  neither  of  his  two  latest  predecessors  had 
received,  together  with  a  verbose  letter,  of  which  it 
is  only  necessary  to  give  one  sentence.  "  We  have 
also,  brother,  encouraged  by  zeal  for  what  is  good, 
sent  you,  by  the  bearer  of  these,  the  pall,  which  we 
have  only  given  leave  to  use  in  the  celebration  of  the 
sacred  mysteries ;  granting  you  likewise  to  ordain 
bishops  when  there  shall  be  occasion,  through  the 
mercy  of  our  Lord ;  that  so  the  gospel  of  Christ,  by 


THE  MISSION  TO  NORTHUMBRIA  163 

the  preaching  of  many,  may  be  spread  abroad  in  all 
the  nations  that  are  not  yet  converted." 

Justus  occupied  the  See  for  three  years.  In  his 
time  occurred  the  most  interesting  episode  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  mission,  the  extension  of  Chris- 
tianity to  Northumbria.  When  the  scene  of  the 
history  is  transformed  to  Northumbria,  Bede's  narrat- 
ive at  once  becomes  more  full  and  picturesque,  and 
we  recognise  that,  while  Bede  was  dependent  for 
summaries  of  the  annals  of  Kent  upon  his  corre- 
spondent Abbot  Nothelm,  he  is  on  his  own  ground 
in  Northumbria,  and  selects  at  his  own  discretion,  and 
with  considerable  literary  skill,  from  the  abundance  of 
material  within  his  reach. 

Again  a  royal  marriage  opened  the  way  for  the 
pioneers  of  the  Church.  Edwin,  King  of  Northum- 
bria, sent  ambassadors  to  Eadbald  of  Kent  to  ask  for 
his  sister  Ethelburga  in  marriage.  Here  our  history 
repeats  itself.  Eadbald  replied  that  it  was  not  lawful 
to  marry  a  Christian  maiden  to  a  pagan  husband,  lest 
the  faith  and  the  mysteries  of  the  Heavenly  King 
should  be  profaned  by  her  union  with  a  king  who 
was  altogether  a  stranger  to  the  worship  of  the  true 
God.  Edwin  replied,  that  he  would  in  no  way  act 
against  the  Christian  faith,  that  he  would  allow  his 
wife  and  all  who  accompanied  her,  men  or  women, 
priests  or  ministers,  to  follow  their  faith  and  worship 
after  the  Christian  customs ;  and  that  he  would  not 
refuse  to  embrace  that  religion  himself,  if,  being 
examined  by  wise  persons,  it  should  be  found  more 
holy  and  more  worthy  of  God.  Upon  these  conditions 
the  alliance  of  the  northern  King  was  accepted.  The 
surviving  Italians  of  the  first  mission  company  must 


164  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTEBBURY 

have  lifted  up  their  hearts  with  hopeful  joy  when 
they  heard  that  at  last,  after  so  many  disappoint- 
ments with  the  British  Church,  the  abortive  attempt 
in  East  Anglia,  the  failure  in  London,  a  way  was 
opened  to  that  very  Deira  which  had  been  their 
goal  when  they  first  started  from  their  monastery 
on  the  Caehan  Hill ;  and  their  interest  and  prayers 
would  add  to  the  enthusiasm  with  which  Paulinus  set 
out  on  his  journey. 

It  is  evident,  from  a  collation  of  various  passages 
which  bear  upon  the  subject,  that  in  this  rude  EngHsh 
society,  as  in  later  times,  a  Queen  had  a  household  of 
her  own,  and  that  the  Kentish  princess  went  to  the 
court  of  Northumbria  with  a  number  of  attendants, 
men  and  women.  It  also  appears  probable,  from 
several  passages,  that  a  royal  Christian  bride  was 
accompanied  by  a  chaplain  of  her  own  countrymen, 
to  be  her  adviser  and  the  ruler  of  her  household,  even 
when  the  marriage  was  between  Christians,  much 
more  was  this  desirable  in  such  a  case  as  the  present. 

Paulinus,  one  of  the  men  who  came  into  Kent  with 
MeUitus,  was  chosen  to  be  the  princess's  chaplain, 
accompanied  probably  by  James  the  Deacon ;  and  as 
the  chaplain  who  came  from  France  with  Bertha  was 
a  bishop,  so  to  do  honour  to  Ethelburga,  and  to  give 
her  chaplain  the  greater  authority,  Justus  conse- 
crated Paulinus  as  a  bishop  on  the  21st  July,  625 
A.D.  The  bride,  with  her  attendants  and  a  gallant 
escort,  probably  embarked  at  Eichborough,  and  went 
northward  by  sea,  disembarking  at  Bamborough,  where 
they  would  be  met  by  Edwin  and  his  thanes  and 
knights,  and  so  they  were  married  by  Paulinus  with 
great  solemnity. 


THE  MISSION  TO  NOHTHUMBRIA  165 

Here  again  we  have  an  evidence  that  occasional 
communication  was  maintained  between  Canterbury 
and  Rome,  and  that  the  successors  of  Gregory  took 
an  interest  in  this  Eoman  mission.  For  Boniface, 
hearing  of  this  hopeful  event,  endeavoured  to  im- 
prove it  by  the  prestige  of  his  oJBfice,  and  the  power 
of  his  persuasion.  As  Gregory  had  written  to  Ethel- 
bert  and  Bertha,  so  now  Boniface  wrote  to  Edwin  and 
Ethelburga. 

The  letter  is  long  and  verbose,  so  that  it  may  be 
better  to  give  only  a  summary  of  its  contents.  It 
began  by  saying  "  that  the  greatness  of  God,  existing  in 
invisible  and  unsearchable  eternity,  cannot  be  com- 
prehended or  expressed  by  human  wit ;  but  He  has 
been  pleased  to  inspire  into  the  minds  of  men  such 
things  concerning  Himself  as  He  was  willing  to  make 
known  to  them ;  and  he  (the  Bishop)  has  thought  fit 
to  extend  his  priestly  care  to  the  King,  and  to  make 
known  to  him  the  Christian  faith,  which  our  Saviour 
Christ  commanded  should  be  preached  to  all  nations, 
in  order  to  offer  to  him  the  cup  of  life  and  salvation. 

"  Thus  the  goodness  of  the  Supreme  Majesty  by  the 
word  of  His  command  created  all  things,  the  heavens, 
the  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  in  them,  disposing 
the  order  in  which  they  should  subsist ;  and  with  the 
counsel  of  His  co-eternal  Word  and  the  unity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  He  formed  man  out  of  the  slime  of  the 
earth,  and  gave  him  such  supereminent  prerogative  as 
to  place  him  above  all  others ;  so  that,  observing  the 
commands  given  to  him.  His  continuance  should  be 
to  all  eternity,  .  .  .  How  great  guilt,  then,  they  lie 
under  who  adhere  to  the  pernicious  superstitions  of 
the  worship  of  idols,  appears  by  the  perdition  of  those 


166  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

whom  they  worship ;  wherefore  it  is  said  of  them  in 
the  Psalms,  '  All  the  gods  of  the  Gentiles  are  devOs, 
but  the  Lord  made  the  heavens.'  And  again,  *  They 
have  eyes  and  see  not,'  etc. 

"  It  behoves  you,  therefore,  to  take  upon  you  the 
sign  of  the  Holy  Cross,  by  which  the  human  race  is 
redeemed,  and  to  break  in  pieces  those  idols  which  you 
have  worshipped ;  for  the  very  destruction  of  them, 
which  could  never  receive  life  or  sense  from  their 
makers,  may  plainly  demonstrate  how  worthless  they 
were,  since  you  yourselves  who  have  received  life  from 
the  Lord  are  certainly  better  than  they.  Draw  near, 
then,  to  the  knowledge  of  Him  who  made  you,  who 
breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  you,  who  sent  His  only- 
begotten  Son  for  your  redemption,  to  cleanse  you  from 
original  sin,  that,  being  delivered  from  the  power  of 
the  devil's  wickedness.  He  might  bestow  on  you  a 
heavenly  reward. 

"  Hear  the  words  of  the  preachers,  and  the  gospel  of 
God  which  they  declare  to  you,  to  the  end  that  believ- 
ing in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  and  in  Jesus  Christ 
His  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  indivisible  Trinity, 
and  being  born  again  by  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
you  may,  through  His  assistance  and  goodness,  dwell 
in  the  brightness  of  the  eternal  glory  with  Him  in 
whom  you  shall  believe." 

It  is  an  interesting  sketch  of  a  missionary  sermon. 
The  Bishop  concludes  by  sending  the  blessing  of  St. 
Peter,  and  sundry  presents — a  tunic,  a  gold  ornament, 
and  a  garment  of  Ancyra,  which  he  prays  his 
Highness  to  accept  with  the  same  friendship  with 
which  they  are  sent. 

At    the    same    time,  the   Bishop  sent  a  letter  to 


THE  MISSION  TO  NOETHUMBRIA  167 

Ethelburga,  which  also  we  shall  take  leave  to  sum- 
marise. He  says  that  his  mind  has  been  much 
rejoiced  that  the  Lord  has  vouchsafed,  in  her  High- 
ness' conversion,  to  kindle  a  spark  of  the  orthodox 
religion,  by  which  the  more  easily  to  inflame  the  mind, 
not  only  of  her  glorious  consort,  but  also  of  the  nation 
that  is  subject  to  them. 

For  he  has  been  informed  by  messengers  who  were 
sent  to  him,  of  the  laudable  conversion  of  his  illustri- 
ous son.  King  Eadbald,  and  that  she  likewise  was  so 
wholly  taken  up  with  the  love  of  her  Eedeemer,  that 
she  never  ceased  to  lend  her  assistance  for  the  propa- 
gation of  the  Christian  faith.  But  it  had  caused  him 
no  small  grief  to  learn  that  her  illustrious  husband 
still  served  abominable  idols,  and  would  not  yield 
obedience  or  give  ear  to  the  preachers.  Wherefore  he 
exhorts  her,  to  the  utmost  of  her  power,  to  endeavour 
to  soften  the  hardness  of  his  heart,  and  to  inflame  his 
coldness,  that  the  Scripture  may  be  fulfilled  by  her,  and 
"  the  unbelieving  husband  be  saved  by  the  believing 
wife " ;  and  assures  her  that  he  does  not  cease,  with 
frequent  prayers,  to  beg  that  she  may  be  able  to 
perform  this. 

He  concludes  by  sending  her  the  blessing  of  St. 
Peter,  and  a  present  consisting  of  a  silver  looking- 
glass  and  a  gilt  ivory  comb.^ 

1  Boniface  v.  died,  Oct.,  625  A.D.,  so  that  these  letters -were  WTitten 
before  that  date. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

Progress  of  the  Work  in  Northumbria 

It  will  be  well  to  pause  here,  in  order  to  consider  the 
condition  of  this  new  district  to  which  we  are  intro- 
duced. The  settlements  of  the  Angles  from  the 
Humber,  northwards,  were  among  the  earliest,  but 
they  seem  at  first  to  have  been  only  along  the  coast. 
The  invaders  forced  their  way  inland  slowly,  against 
tenacious  resistance,  and  with  varying  fortunes ;  for 
they  had  not  only  to  fight  against  the  Britons  and 
drive  them  westward,  but  they  had  to  guard  their 
right  flank,  which,  the  further  they  extended  their 
conquests,  was  the  more  and  more  exposed  to  attack 
from  the  Picts  and  Scots.  Cumbria  was  still  inde- 
pendent, and  continued  to  be  ruled  by  native  kings 
till  the  early  part  of  the  tenth  century.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  define  the  boundary  between  the  two 
countries  at  this  time.  Long  after  the  period  at  which 
we  have  arrived,  there  were  two  small  independent 
British  districts,  Loidis  and  Elmet,  in  the  West  Eiding 
of  Yorkshire.  The  town  of  Leeds  takes  its  name  from 
the  former,  and  the  village  of  Barwick-in-Elmet 
defines  the  whereabouts  of  the  latter.  The  war  of 
conquest,  which  had  ceased  a  century  ago  in  Kent 
and  the  south-east  of  the  island  generally,  was  still  of 
doubtful  issue  in  the  north ;  not  many  years  after  the 

168 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    169 

very  period  at  which  we  have  arrived,  a  confederation 
of  the  Britons  under  Csedwalla,  aided  by  Penda,  King 
of  Mercia,  recovered  the  whole  country,  as  we  shall 
presently  see. 

As  for  the  religious  condition  of  the  north,  the 
Britons  of  Cumbria  were  the  descendants  of  the 
Church  of  the  old  Eoman  province ;  and  the  disciples 
of  Ninian,  of  Kentigern,  and  of  Columba,  were  scattered 
among  the  Picts  and  Scots.  Nennius  asserts  that 
a  Welshman,  Pthun,  son  of  Urien,  converted  the 
^STorthumbrians ;  the  Welsh  Chronicle  gives  the  year 
626  A.D.  as  the  date  of  his  labours;  and  this  may 
be  the  distorted  record  of  some  missionary  enterprise 
immediately  preceding  the  time  of  the  appearance 
of  Paulinus  on  the  scene.^ 

The  history  of  Edwin  is  briefly  this.  The  Northum- 
brians had  been  divided  into  two  kingdoms,  Bernicia 
and  Deira,  governed  by  two  branches  of  the  house  of 
Ida  the  Conqueror.  On  the  death  of  ^lle  of  Deira — 
the  ^lle  of  the  story  of  Gregory  and  the  English 
slaves  in  the  Forum — ^thelfrith.  King  of  Bernicia, 
made  himself  master  of  Deira  also,  and  file's  son 
Edwin,  a  child  of  three  years  old,  and  his  friends, 
sought  refuge  in  other  lands.  Edwin  wandered  from 
kingdom  to  kingdom,  till  he  found  a  refuge  at  the 
court  of  Eedwald,  King  of  the  East  Angles.  JEthel- 
frith  sent  messengers  offering  a  large  sum  for  the  life 
of  the  fugitive,  and  again  with  a  larger  bribe,  and  still 
again  with  threats  of  war. 

Eedwald  was  disposed  to  surrender  the  fugitive 
rather  than  risk  the  hazard  of  war.  A  trusty  friend 
of  Edwin  warned  him  of  the  danger,  advised  him  to 

^  Professor  Ray's  Celtic  Britain,  p.  130. 


170  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

flee,  and  offered  to  bo  his  guide  to  a  place  of  safety. 
The  friend  may  very  probably  have  been  sent  by 
Eedwald,  who  hoped  thus  to  evade  his  difficulty ;  but 
Edwin  refused.  "  I  thank  you  for  your  good  will,"  he 
said,  "  but  I  cannot  do  what  you  propose,  or  be  guilty 
of  breaking  the  compact  I  have  made  with  so  great  a 
King,  when  he  has  done  me  no  harm  nor  offered  me 
any  injury.  If  I  must  die,  let  it  be  by  his  hand 
rather  than  by  that  of  any  meaner  person.  For 
whither  shall  I  now  flee,  when  I  have  for  so  many 
years  been  a  wanderer  through  all  the  provinces  of 
Britain  to  escape  the  hands  of  my  enemies  ? " 

While  Edwin  sat  outside  the  palace,  in  the  dark, 
brooding  over  his  condition,  a  stranger  appeared  to 
him,  who  asked  what  reward  he  would  give  to  the 
man  who  should  persuade  Eedwald  not  to  deliver  him 
up  to  his  enemies.  Edwin  replied  that  he  would  give 
him  all  he  was  able  to  give.  "  But  what  if  I  also 
promise  that  you  shall  overcome  your  enemies,  and 
surpass  in  power  all  who  have  reigned  before  you  over 
the  English  nation  ? "  Edwin  promised  that  he  would 
make  a  suitable  return  to  him  who  should  accomplish  this. 
"  But,"  persisted  the  stranger,  "  if  he  can  also  give  you 
better  advice  for  your  life  and  salvation  than  any  of 
your  progenitors  ever  heard  of,  will  you  consent  to 
submit  to  him  and  to  follow  his  wholesome  counsel  ? " 
Edwin  promised  that  he  would  in  all  things  follow  the 
counsel  of  the  man  who  should  deliver  him  from  his 
calamities  and  raise  him  to  a  throne.  The  stranger 
then  laid  his  hand  upon  Edwin's  head,  saying,  "  When 
this  sign  shall  be  given  you,  remember  this  discourse, 
and  fulfil  your  promises";  and  the  stranger  dis- 
appeared. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    171 

While  Edwin  still  sat  musing  on  this  which  had 
happened,  his  friend  came  again  to  announce  that  he 
might  enter  the  palace  and  sleep  without  fear,  for 
Redwald  had  listened  to  the  expostulations  of  his 
Queen,  that  it  was  unworthy  of  so  great  a  King  to 
sell  his  friend  in  distress  for  gold,  and  to  sacrifice  his 
honour,  which  is  more  valuable  than  all  other  orna- 
ments, for  money. 

'  So,  dismissing  ^thelfrith's  messengers,  Eedwald 
anticipated  his  anger ;  for  he  gathered  his  forces, 
marched  against  ^thelfrith  before  he  had  time  to 
complete  his  hostile  preparations,  defeated  and  slew 
him,  and  placed  Edwin  upon  the  Northumbrian 
throne. 

Paulinus  was  diligent,  not  only  in  ministration  to 
the  little  flock  of  Kentish  Christians  who  formed  the 
Queen's  household,  but  also  in  endeavours  to  win  some 
of  the  pagans  to  the  faith ;  in  his  pastoral  duty  with 
satisfactory  results,  but  in  his  missionary  efforts  with 
no  success.  Next  year  an  assassin,  sent  by  Cwichelm, 
King  of  tlie  West  Saxons,  made  an  attempt  upon  the 
life  of  Edwin.  Lilla,  the  King's  minister,  who  was 
present,  having  no  buckler  at  hand  to  ward  off  the 
blow,  interposed  his  own  body  to  receive  the  stroke, 
and  died  for  his  lord.  The  same  night,  which  was 
Easter  Sunday,  the  Queen  brought  forth  a  daughter, 
and  the  King  gave  thanks  to  his  gods  for  her  birth. 
Paulinus,  who  was  present,  endeavoured  to  persuade 
him  that  it  was  to  Christ  he  ought  to  return  his 
thanks,  both  for  his  own  escape  from  death,  and  for 
the  gift  of  his  child.  The  King,  in  the  exalted  feeling 
of  the  moment,  promised  that,  if  God  would  give  him 
life  and  victory  over    the  King  who  had  so  basely 


172  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

sought  to  slay  him,  he  would  cast  off  his  idols  and 
serve  Christ ;  and  as  a  pledge  of  his  promise  he  gave 
up  his  daughter  to  Pauliuus  to  be  consecrated  to 
Christ.  And  on  the  following  Whitsunday  the  child 
was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Eanflaeda,  with  twelve 
others  of  her  family,  who  had  been  won  by  the 
teaching  of  Paulinus,  the  first-fruits  to  Christ  of  the 
Northumbrian  nation. 

The  King  fought  a  campaign  against  the  West 
Saxons,  to  avenge  Cwichelm's  treacherous  attempt 
against  his  life,  and  returned  victorious.  But  though 
he  abandoned  the  worship  of  idols,  "  he  would  not 
immediately  and  unadvisedly  embrace  the  mysteries 
of  the  Christian  faith,  but  thought  fit  first,  at  leisure, 
to  be  instructed  by  the  venerable  Paulinus  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  faith,  and  to  confer  with  such  as  he 
knew  to  be  the  wisest  of  his  chief  men ;  and,  being  a 
man  of  extraordinary  sagacity,  he  often  sat  alone  by 
himself  a  long  time,  silent,  but  deliberating  in  his 
heart  how  he  should  proceed,  and  which  religion  he 
should  adhere  to."  One  day,  while  he  sat  thus  medi- 
tating, Paulinus  came  to  him,  and,  laying  his  right 
hand  upon  his  head,  asked  whether  he  remembered 
that  sign.  The  King  was  ready  to  fall  at  his  feet, 
but  Paulinus  raised  him  up,  and  said,  "  Behold,  by  the 
help  of  God  you  have  escaped  from  the  hands  of  the 
enemies  whom  you  feared,  you  have  obtained  the 
kingdom  which  you  desired ;  do  not  delay  to  fulfil  the 
promise  you  made."  The  King  declared  that  he  was 
willing  to  receive  the  faith,  but  would  confer  with  his 
principal  friends  and  chief  advisers  about  it,  that,  if 
they  were  of  his  opinion,  they  might  together  be 
cleansed   in   the    fountain    of  Christ.     So    the   King 


PEOGKESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    173 

submitted  to  his  Witaii  the  question  whether  they 
should  embrace  the  religion  of  Christ. 

The  consultation  of  the  Witan,  revealing  in  several 
typical  speeches  the  various  motives  which  influenced 
the  minds  of  these  Enghshmen,  in  abandonmg  the  old 
religion  and  embracing  the  new,  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  passages  in  our  Church  history.  Coifi, 
the  chief  priest,  was  the  first  to  speak :  "  0  King, 
take  this  new  doctrine  into  consideration ;  for  I 
declare  to  you  most  truly  what  I  have  learned  for 
certain,  that  the  religion  which  we  have  hitherto 
professed  has  no  power  or  goodness  in  it.  For  none 
of  your  people  has  applied  himself  more  diligently 
to  the  worship  of  our  gods  than  I ;  and  yet  there  are 
many  who  receive  greater  favours  from  you,  and  are 
more  preferred  than  I,  and  are  more  prosperous  in 
their  undertakings.  Now,  if  the  gods  availed  any- 
thing, they  would  rather  forward  me,  who  have  been 
more  careful  to  serve  them.  It  remains,  therefore, 
that  if,  upon  examination,  you  find  these  new  doctrines 
better  and  more  efficacious,  we  immediately  receive 
them  without  any  delay." 

These  were  the  worldly  old  high  priest's  views  of 
religion  ;  and  they  no  doubt  represent  one  phase  of 
false  religion,  which  worships  the  gods  in  the  hope  of 
worldly  advantage,  and  is  ready  to  declare  them  good 
for  nothing  if  they  do  not  give  it.  It  is  a  very  human 
view,  and  exists  among  Christians  also.  But  there  is 
a  nobler  phase  of  mind  among  heathens  as  among 
Christians,  and  the  next  speech  represents  it — a 
yearning  after  the  solution  of  the  awful  mystery  of 
life. 

Another  of  the  King's  chief  men  said :  "  The  present 


1V4  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

life  of  man,  0  King,  compared  with  the  tune  which  is 
unknown  to  us,  seems  to  me  like  the  swift  flight  of  a 
sparrow  through  the  hall  wherein  you  sit  in  winter 
with  your  commanders  and  ministers,  and  a  good  fire 
in  the  midst,  while  storms  of  rain  and  snow  prevail 
outside ;  the  sparrow,  1  say,  flies  swiftly  through  the 
house,  in  at  one  door  and  immediately  out  at  the 
other.  Whilst  he  is  in  he  is  safe  from  the  wintry 
storm,  but  after  a  short  space  of  fair  weather  he 
immediately  vanishes  out  of  your  sight  into  the  dark 
winter  from  which  he  came.  So  this  life  of  man 
appears  for  a  short  space ;  but  of  what  went  before  or 
what  is  to  follow  we  are  utterly  ignorant.  If  this 
new  doctrine  teaches  something  more  certain,  it  seems 
justly  to  deserve  to  be  followed," 

Other  elders  and  counsellors  spoke  to  the  same 
effect.  Paulinus  was  then  invited  to  address  the 
assembly.  Bede  has  not  given  the  least  hint  of  the 
tenor  of  his  speech.  We  may  refer  to  Boniface's 
letter  to  the  King  for  the  kind  of  general  argument 
which  Paulinus  with  his  local  knowledge  would  apply 
to  the  particular  occasion ;  and  Coifi's  echo  of  it  is 
"  truth,  life,  salvation,  eternal  happiness."  For  the 
high  priest  had  been  lifted  to  a  higher  level  of  thought 
by  Paulmus's  discourse,  and  he  replied  to  it :  "I  have 
long  known  that  there  was  nothing  in  that  which  we 
worshipped,  for  the  more  diligently  I  sought  after 
truth  in  that  worship  the  less  I  found  it.  But  I 
freely  confess  that  such  truth  evidently  appears  in 
this  preaching  as  can  confer  on  us  the  gifts  of  life, 
salvation,  and  eternal  happiness.  Therefore  I  advise, 
0  King,  that  we  abjure  that  worship,  and  set  fire  to 
those  temples  and  altars  from  which  we  have  derived 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    175 

no  benefit."  Coifi  volunteered  to  take  the  first  step 
in  this  resolution.  Mounting  the  King's  horse  and 
bearing  arms,  both  unlawful  to  the  priest,  he  galloped 
to  the  neighbouring  temple  of  Godmundingaham,  and 
desecrated  it  by  casting  his  spear  into  it,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  multitude  of  people,  and  then  commanded 
the  temple  and  its  enclosures  to  be  destroyed  by  fire. 
The  place  was  not  far  from  York.  It  appears  tliat 
the  temple  and  its  enclosures  were  of  timber. 

The  King  and  all  the  nobles  of  the  nation,  and  a 
large  number  of  the  commons,  received  the  faith. 
While  waiting  for  Easter,  they  were  catechised  and 
instructed.  A  timber  church-  was  erected  over  a 
spring  in  the  city  of  York,  and  herein,  on  the  Easter 
Sunday,  627  A.D.,  Edwin  was  baptized,  and  we  assume 
that  his  thanes  and  knights  and  many  of  the  common 
people  were  baptized  at  tlie  same  time.  Edwin  ap- 
pointed York,  the  principal  town  of  Deira,  as  the  See 
of  Paulinus,  and  began  to  build  a  basilican  church  of 
stone  around  the  wooden  oratory.  This  church  of 
stone  grew  slowly — it  was  not  finished  till  the  time 
of  Oswald,  his  successor ;  but  it  has  virtually  lasted 
till  now,  for  the  present  York  Minster  occupies  the 
same  site,  embodies  the  stones  of  Edwin's  and  Oswald's 
church,  and  the  spring  from  which  Edwin  was  bap- 
tized still  exists  in  the  crypt.  We  search  with 
natural  interest  for  any  indication  of  the  character  of 
the  building.  Bede  says  that  it  was  built  under 
Paulinus's  instructions  (docente  eodem  Paulino),  there- 
fore we  should  expect  it  to  be  of  the  basilican  type 
then  usual ;  but  he  says  that  it  was  square  (per 
quadruTTi  ccepit  edificare  hasilicam) — does  that  mean 
that  it  liad  not  the  usual  semicircular  apse  ?      The 


176  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

royal  children  were  buried  in  the  church,  and  after- 
wards we  learn  that  Edwin  was  buried  in  the  porticus 
of  St.  Gregory.  Did  Paulinus  adopt  the  plan  of 
Augustine's  Church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Can- 
terbury, and  add  a  porticiis  for  the  royal  mausoleum  ? 
A  square-ended  church,  with  lateral  porches  or  tran- 
septs, would  be  an  approach  to  the  common  plan  of 
later  times.  Fragments  of  this  Saxon  church  have 
been  discovered  in  the  course  of  modern  repairs.  The 
well  is  circular,  and  the  high  altar  always  stood  imme- 
diately over  it  until  the  changes  made  in  1736  a.d. 

Then,  or  soon  after,  the  members  of  the  royal  family 
were  baptized — two  sons,  Osfrith  and  Eadfrith,  born 
to  him  while  he  was  in  banishment,  by  Quenberga, 
daughter  of  Cearl,  King  of  the  Mercians ;  and  Iffi,  son 
of  Osfrith ;  and  of  his  children  by  Ethelburga,  Ethelhun 
and  his  daughter  Etheldrith,  and  another  Wuscfrea ; 
besides  Eanflseda  already  mentioned.  Ethelhun  and 
his  daughter  Etheldrith  were  snatched  out  of  this  life 
whilst  still  in  their  white  baptismal  garments — which 
it  was  the  custom  in  the  Early  Church  to  wear  for 
eight  days  after  baptism — and  were  buried  in  the 
church  at  York. 

The  position  of  Paulinus  in  Northumbria  was  not 
like  that  of  Augustine  in  Kent ;  it  was  rather  like 
that  of  Liudhard  at  the  court  of  Ethelbert.  Augustine 
came  with  a  large  staff  to  preach  the  gospel  to  a 
nation ;  Paulinus,  like  Liudhard,  was  simply  the  chap- 
lain of  the  Queen,  his  chief  duty  was  to  minister  to 
her  and  her  Christian  attendants,  lest  in  the  midst  of  a 
heathen  court  and  kingdom  they  should  deteriorate  in 
Christian  faith  or  practice.  Even  after  the  conversion 
of  the  King  and  his  principal  men,  and  a  multitude 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    177 

of  the  common  people,  there  is- no  trace  of  any  helpers 
being  sent  to  him  from  Kent ;  and  it  would  be  long 
before  any  of  his  English  converts  were  fit  to  be 
ordained  to  the  ministry ;  so  that  Paulinus  and  his 
Deacon  were  still  the  only  missionaries  in  North- 
umbria,  and  their  duty  was  always  with  the  court. 

But  Paulinus  was  of  a  zealous  missionary  spirit, 
and  he  found  opportunities  for  doing  a  considerable 
and  successful  mission  work.  A  little  consideration 
of  Bede's  narrative  shows  that  Edwin  and  Ethelburga, 
with  their  numerous  court,  were  accustomed  to  go  to 
various  royal  seats,  and  to  make  some  considerable 
stay  at  each  place.  Had  Paulinus  been  free  to  plan 
his  missionary  work  as  he  pleased,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  he  could  have  laid  any  wiser  plan  than  that 
to  which  his  duties  limited  him.  Wherever  the  court 
took  up  its  residence  for  a  while,  there  would  be  a 
resort  to  it  of  all  the  influential  people  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  Paulinus  would  have  the  opportunity 
of  preaching  to  them  under  the  present  and  powerful 
countenance  of  the  King  and  Queen. 

Paulinus  zealously  took  advantage  of  these  oppor- 
tunities, and  Bede  records  an  instance  of  the  success 
which  attended  his  labours.  "  At  a  certain  time,  com- 
ing with  the  King  and  Queen  to  the  royal  country- 
seat  which  is  called  Adgefrin,  [i.e.  Yeverin-in-Glendale, 
near  Wooler,  in  Northumberland,]  he  stayed  there 
with  them  thirty-six  days,  fully  occupied  in  catechis- 
ing and  baptizing,  during  which  days,  from  morning  till 
night,  he  did  nothing  else  but  instruct  the  people,  re- 
sorting thither  from  all  villages  and  places,  in  Christ's 
saving  word ;  and,  when  instructed,  he  washed  them 
with  the  water  of  absolution  in  the  river  Glen  [now 


178  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Bowent]  which  is  close  by."  This  was  in  Bernicia ; 
but  in  Deira  also,  at  the  village  of  Cataract,  where  he 
was  wont  often  to  be  with  the  King,  he  pursued  the 
same  course,  and  baptized  his  converts  in  the  river 
Swale  which  runs  by  the  village,  "  for  as  yet  oratories 
or  baptisteries  could  not  be  made  in  the  early  infancy 
of  the  Church  in  those  parts."  Also  at  Campodunum 
(probably  Doncaster)  he  built  a  church,  which  was 
burnt,  together  with  all  the  town,  by  Csedwalla ;  but 
the  altar,  being  of  stone,  escaped ;  so  we  conclude  that 
the  church  was  of  timber. 

The  work  of  this  zealous  missionary  extended  even 
south  of  the  Humber.  The  Lindiswaras,  who  had 
settled  in  this  district,  were  not  sufficiently  strong 
to  maintain  their  independence  in  the  face  of  their 
powerful  neighbours,  and  they  were  a  bone  of  con- 
tention between  Northumbria  and  Mercia.  It  would 
seem  that  the  powerful  King  of  Northumbria  had 
lately  annexed  the  province ;  and  it  was  no  doubt  on 
a  lengthened  visit  to  it,  accompanied  by  the  Queen 
and  Paulinus,  that  Paulinus  embraced  the  opportunity 
to  try  to  establish  the  faith  there. 

It  would  seem  that  Edwin  made  some  considerable 
stay  at  Lincoln ;  for  Paulinus  not  only  converted  the 
governor  of  the  town,  whose  name  was  Blecca,  and 
all  his  family,  but  he  built  in  that  city  a  stone  church 
of  beautiful  workmanship,  which  is,  perhaps,  repre- 
sented by  the  modern  Church  of  St.  Paul;  St.  Paul 
being  a  contraction,  perhaps,  of  the  name  of  Paulinus. 

In  the  old  Roman  times  Lindum  Colonia  was  the 
principal  city  of  this  part  of  the  country,  and  its 
special  advantages  of  situation  would  make  it  still  the 
chief  town  of  Lindsey,  for  it  was  at  the  highest  navig- 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    179 

able  point  of  the  river  Witham,  where  the  great 
northern  Komau  road  crossed  the  river,  and  the  old 
Koman  walls — of  which  some  portions  still  remain, 
with  the  northern  gateway — made  Lincoln  a  strong 
fortress. 

A  great  event  took  place  here,  which  incidentally 
gives  a  date  to  the  residence  of  the  Northumbrian 
court.  Justus,  Bishop  of  Canterbury,  departed  to 
Christ  in  the  year  627  A.D.,  and  Honorius  was  chosen 
as  his  successor.  Now,  Gregory,  in  sketching  his  plan 
for  the  ecclesiastical  organisation  of  England,  had  con- 
templated two  Metropolitans,  one  at  London  and  the 
other  at  York,  each  with  his  twelve  suffragan  bishops; 
and  had  directed  that,  when  either  Metropolitan  See 
was  vacated  by  death,  the  surviving  Metropolitan 
should  consecrate  the  successor  to  the  vacancy.  Act- 
ing upon  this  direction  of  the  sainted  founder  of  the 
mission,  Honorius  sought  consecration  from  Paulinus. 
Learning  that  he  was  for  the  present  residing  at 
Lincoln,  he  came  there,  glad,  no  doubt,  to  be  saved 
the  longer  journey  to  Northumbria ;  and  was  there 
consecrated  in  the  year  628  A.D.,  perhaps  in  the 
newly-built  stone  church  of  beautiful  workmanship. 
Paulinus,  consecrated  alone,  for  the  See  of  Eochester 
was  at  that  moment  vacant  by  the  death  of  Eomanus. 

Still  another  place  south  of  the  Humber  was  the  scene 
of  a  successful  work  by  the  zealous  Paulinus.  This 
was  the  city  which,  in  the  English  tongue,  is  called 
Tiovulfingacester,  near  the  river  Trent.  Bede  tells  the 
story  with  interesting  details.  "  A  certain  abbot  and 
priest  of  the  Monastery  of  Peartaneu  [Partney,  a  cell 
of  Bardeney  Abbey,  of  which  Deda  was  the  first 
abbot],  a  man  of  singular  veracity,  whose  name  was 


180  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Deda,  told  him  that  one  of  the  oldest  inhabitants  had 
informed  him,  in  relation  to  the  faith  of  this  province, 
that  he  himself,  with  a  great  number  of  people,  had 
been  baptized  in  the  Trent  at  noonday  by  Bishop 
Paulinus,  in  the  presence  of  King  Edwin.  The  old 
man  was  wont  to  describe  the  personal  appearance  of 
Paulinus ;  that  he  was  tall,  a  little  stooping,  his  hair 
black,  his  visage  meagre,  his  nose  slender  and  aquiline, 
his  aspect  both  venerable  and  majestic."  It  is  a  life- 
like portrait,  and  enables  us  to  picture  to  ourselves 
the  man  who  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  the 
whole  number  of  the  Italian  missionaries.  The  city 
of  Tiovulfingacester  was  probably  Southwell,  where 
we  conjecture  that  Edwin  was  making  some  stay. 
Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  Church  of  Southwell 
was  a  peculiar  of  the  Archbishop  of  York,  who  had  a 
residence  there,  and  all  the  parish  churches  of  the 
county  of  Nottingham  regarded  it  as  their  mother 
church ;  the  people  came  up  to  it  in  procession  once 
a  year,  and  the  priests  received  the  blessed  oils  from 
it  for  use  in  their  ministrations.  It  is  a  probable 
conjecture  that  this  dependence  of  Southwell  upon 
York  began  with  some  grant  by  Edwin  to  Paulinus  at 
this  time. 

It  has  been  convenient  to  delay  to  this  place  an 
episode  which  belongs  to  a  rather  earlier  period. 
There  is  a  various  reading  in  some  of  the  MSS.  of 
Bede's  History,  which  makes  Edwin,  when  pressed  to 
fulfil  his  promise  to  adopt  the  Christian  faith,  plead 
for  time  to  consult  friendly  princes  {amicis  principibiLs), 
as  well  as  his  chief  counsellors,  in  the  hope  that  they 
might  together  accept  baptism  ;  and  this  reading  is 
countenanced  by  the  fact  that  Edwin  did,  about  that 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    181 

time,  induce  Eorpwald,  King  of  the  East  Angles,  the 
son  of  Eedwald,  to  embrace  the  faith  with  his  whole 
province,  and  to  receive  the  sacraments  of  Christ. 
We  may  reasonably  conjecture  that  Edwin's  friendship 
with  the  friend  of  his  exile,  and  his  present  influence 
as  Bretwalda,  had  brought  Eorpwald  to  the  court  of 
Edwin,  just  as  Eedwald  his  father  had  visited  the 
court  of  Ethelbert,  and  had  been  won  to  embrace  the 
faith.  On  this  occasion,  though  the  whole  province 
consented  to  embrace  the  faith,  the  impression  was  not 
permanent,  for,  not  long  after,  Eorpwald  was  slain  and 
the  province  relapsed. 

Edwin  was  thirty  years  of  age  when  the  defeat  of 
^thelfrith  placed  him  upon  the  throne  of  united 
Northumbria;  he  had  reigned  eleven  years  before 
his  conversion,  and  his  reign  continued  for  six  years 
after  that  event.  He  was  more  powerful  than  all  the 
EngHsh  kings ;  he  added  Anglesea  and  the  Isle  of 
Man  to  his  own  dominions  by  conquest ;  he  compelled 
the  British  princes  ^  to  acknowledge  his  supremacy, 
and  was  recognised  as  Bretwalda  by  all  the  English 
nations  except  Kent.  It  was  especially  in  the  later 
years  of  his  reign  that  his  power  was  increased,  and 
Bede  considers  it  to  have  been  a  reward  for  his  re- 
ceiving the  faith.  The  power  and  justice  of  his  rule 
is  expressed  in  the  proverbial  saying,  that  a  woman 
with  her  new-born  babe  might  walk  throughout  the 
island,  from  sea  to  sea,  without  receiving  any  harm. 
The  beneficence  of  his  rule  is  illustrated  by  the  story 
that  the  King  took  such  care  for  the  good  of  his 
nation,  that,  in  several  places  where  he  had  observed 
clear  springs  by  the  highways,  he  caused  stakes  to  be 
1  Bede,  Ecd.  Hist,  ii.  9  and  20. 


182  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

fixed,  with  brass  bowls  hanging  from  them,  for  the 
convenience  of  travellers ;  and  no  man  durst  touch 
them,  except  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
intended. 

His  royal  state,  unusual  in  the  simple  manners 
of  the  English,  has  already  been  described;  his 
banners  were  not  only  borne  before  him  in  battle, 
but  also  in  time  of  peace  ;  when  he  rode  about  his 
cities,  towns,  or  provinces  with  his  officers,  the 
standard-bearer  was  wont  to  go  before  him ;  and  even 
when  he  walked  along  the  streets,  that  sort  of  banner 
which  the  Eomans  call  Tufa  and  the  English  Tuuf — 
a  spear  ornamented  with  a  tuft  of  feathers — was  borne 
before  him.  It  was  probably  some  survival  of  the 
state  affected  by  the  principal  officials  of  the  Eoman 
regime,  and  a  sign  of  his  dignity  as  Bretwalda. 

But  we  are  come  to  the  last  scene  of  his  interest- 
ing life  and  reign.  Csedwalla,  the  King  of  Cumbria, 
the  last  great  hero  of  the  British  race,  induced  the 
other  independent  British  princes  to  join  their  forces 
with  his,  in  a  great  attempt  to  defeat  Edwin  and 
recover  the  north  of  England  from  the  invaders. 
Penda,  the  fierce  and  warlike  King  of  the  Mercians, 
influenced  probably  by  jealousy  of  Edwin's  growing 
power,  entered  into  an  unnatural  alliance  with  the 
Britons.  At  a  great  battle,  fought  on  the  12  th 
October,  633  A.D.,  on  the  plain  of  Haethfield  (Hatfield 
Chase,  about  seven  miles  north-east  of  Doncaster), 
the  Northumbrians  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter ; 
Edwin  and  his  son  Osfrith  were  slain  on  the  field,  and 
another  son,  Eadfrith,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Penda. 
Coedwalla  and  his  Britons  overran  Northumbria, 
sparing  neither  age  nor  sex,  and  resolving  to  cut  off 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WORK  IN  NORTHUMBRIA    183 

all  the  English  race  within  the  borders  of  Britain. 
The  head  of  King  Edwin  was  brought  to  York,  and 
eventually  buried  in  the  porticus  of  St.  Gregory,  of 
the  church  which  he  had  founded  there. 

There  seemed  no  safety  for  the  family  of  Edwin 
except  in  flight.  Paulinus  did  not  forget  that  Queen 
Ethelburga  was  his  especial  charge.  The  Queen,  with 
Eanflseda  the  daughter,  and  Wuscfrea  the  son  of 
Edwin,  and  Yffi  the  son  of  the  slain  Osfrith,  with  their 
attendants,  accompanied  by  Paulinus,  and  escorted  by 
Bassus,  one  of  Edwin's  knights,  fled  to  the  coast,  and 
thence  took  ship  for  Kent.  They  took  such  portable 
valuables  as  they  could  carry  with  them,  and  it  is  to 
Paulinus  that  we  must  probably  attribute  the  carrying 
off  of  a  large  gold  cross  and  a  golden  chalice,  which 
were  long  after  shown  among  the  treasures  of  the 
Church  of  Canterbury,  James  the  Deacon  was  left 
behind  to  do  what  he  could  for  the  scattered  and  per- 
secuted remnant  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER    XXIV 

Episcopate    of    Honokius 

And  80  our  history,  in  633  A.D.,  returns  again  to 
Canterbury,  and  we  have,  after  an  absence  of  eight 
years,  to  look  round  and  note  what  changes  have 
taken  place  while  we  have  been  pursuing  the  episode 
of  the  mission  to  Northumbria. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Bishop  Justus  died  in 
627  A.D.,  and  that,  with  a  delay  of  eighteen  months, 
Honorius,  the  boy-pupil  of  Gregory,  was  consecrated 
by  Paulinus  at  Lincoln,  and  now  occupied  the  See 
of  Canterbury.  The  See  of  Eochester  was  vacant; 
Romanus,  its  bishop,  having  been  sent  by  Justus  to 
Rome  on  some  business,  of  the  nature  of  which  we 
are  not  told,  had  been  drowned  in  "  the  Italian  Sea," 
i.e.  probably  in  the  Mediterranean  in  his  voyage  from 
Marseilles.  At  the  request  of  Bishop  Honorius  and 
King  Eadbald,  Paulinus  undertook  the  vacant  charge, 
and  continued  in  it  tiU  his  death  twenty  years  after. 

A  rather  pathetic  incident  finds  its  place  of  record 
here.  It  illustrates  the  occasional  intercourse  between 
Kent  and  Rome,  and  the  slowness  of  the  correspond- 
ence between  them.  Boniface  v.  had  been  succeeded 
in  the  Roman  See  by  Honorius  I.  (625  A.D.).  News 
had  come  to  Rome  from  Britain  of  the  consecration 
and    mission   of    Paulinus    to  Northumbria ;    of    the 

184 


EPISCOPATE  OF  HONORIUS  185 

conversion  of  King  Edwin ;  and  of  the  other  suc- 
cesses of  Paulinus,  which  have  been  related  in  the 
preceding  narrative ;  and  of  the  death  of  Justus  and 
the  succession  of  Honorius  to  the  See  of  Canterbury. 
Honorius  of  Eome  sent  back  a  letter  (dated  11th 
of  June,  634  A.D.)  of  congratulation  and  exhortation 
to  Edwin,  whose  body  lay  on  the  battlefield  at 
Hatfield,  and  his  head  in  the  porticus  of  St.  Gregory 
at  York.  He  also  sent  a  pall  to  Paulinus  as  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  which  found  Paulinus  a  fugitive  in 
Kent,  with  his  northern  church  in  ruins.  Whether 
Paulinus  wore  it  as  Bishop  of  Eochester  we  are  not 
told,  but  on  his  death  he  bequeathed  it  to  his  cathe- 
dral. Honorius  wrote  also  to  his  beloved  brother  of 
Canterbury,  a  letter  of  congratulation  and  encourage- 
ment. 

What  specially  needs  notice  in  these  letters,  is 
that  the  Bishop  of  Eome  says  that  it  was  at  the 
request  of  the  two  kings  Eadbald  and  Edwin  that 
he  had  sent  palls  to  Honorius  and  Paulinus,  in  the 
name  of  St.  Peter  the  Apostle,  granting  them  authority 
that  when  the  divine  grace  shall  call  either  of  them 
to  Himself,  the  survivor  shall  ordain  a  bishop  in  the 
room  of  him  that  is  deceased.  This  is  merely  a 
repetition  of  the  original  arrangement  of  Gregory, 
which  we  have  seen  Honorius  and  Paulinus  had 
already  acted  upon,  without  thinking  that  the  gift  of 
the  pall  was  needed  for  its  accomplishment.  In  his 
letter  to  Edwin,  the  Eoman  Bishop  recommends  him 
to  the  study  of  the  works  of  Gregory. 

In  630,  while  Paulinus  was  still  in  the  north, 
Eadbald  founded  a  monastery  at  Dover.  Beyond 
doubt    the   Monastery    of    SS.   Peter   and    Paul,   at 


186  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

Canterbury,  supplied  the  nucleus  of  the  new  com- 
munity, which  probably,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  consisted  of  an  abbot  and  twelve 
brethren ;  and  though  the  abbot  might  be  one  of  the 
Italians,  the  remainder  or  the  majority  of  them  would, 
in  all  likelihood,  be  Kentish  men.  We  may  take  this 
swarm  as  an  evidence  that  the  parent  hive  was 
getting  overcrowded,  and  therefore  as  proof  of  the 
continued  growth  of  the  Church  in  Kent. 

In  the  same  year  an  important  event  had  taken 
place  outside  the  Kingdom  of  Kent.  Sigebert  of  East 
Anglia  had  returned  from  exile  in  Burgundy,  to 
succeed  to  his  brother's  throne.  During  his  exile 
he  had  become  a  Christian.  Bede  calls  him  a  most 
Christian  and  learned  man,  and  he  was  desirous  of 
introducing  among  his  people  the  institutions  which 
he  had  seen  at  work  in  Gaul.  It  would  appear  that 
his  wishes  had  become  known  to  Honorius ;  very 
possibly  he  had  sent  to  Kent  to  ask  for  missioners. 
Just  at  that  time,  Felix,  a  Burgundian,  arrived  in 
Canterbury,  seeking  some  field  for  missionary  enter- 
prise, and  Honorius  sent  him  into  East  Anglia.  "We 
conclude,  from  the  way  in  which  Bede  speaks  of  him, 
that  he  was  already  a  bishop  when  he  came.  He 
established  his  See  at  Dunwich,  among  the  south 
folk.  Shortly  after,  Fursey,  an  Irish  monk,  with  four 
companions,  came  to  East  Anglia  and  founded  a 
monastery  at  Cnobbesburg  (Burgh  Castle),  among  the 
north  folk;  from  these  two  centres  the  gospel 
gradually  spread  over  that  kingdom. 


CHAPTEE    XXV 

The  Kentish  Monasteries 

The  episcopate  of  Honorius  witnessed  an  interesting 
and  important  development  of  the  life  of  the  Kentish 
Church,  in  the  foundation  of  religious  houses  for 
women.  Many  English  ladies  of  royal  and  noble 
birth,  in  the  early  times  of  the  conversion,  under  the 
teaching  and  influence  of  their  monkish  guides, 
manifested  a  strong  predilection  for  the  celibate  life. 

When  there  were  no  nunneries  in  England,  they 
resorted  to  French  religious  houses,  especially  to 
those  at  Brie,  Chelles,  and  Andelys ;  and  many  of 
the  girls  of  royal  and  noble  families  seem  to  have 
been  sent  thither  for  their  education. 

Brie  and  Chelles  were  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paris,  Andelys  was  near  Ptouen.  These  were  all 
"  double  "  houses,  that  is,  they  consisted  of  two  com- 
munities, one  of  monks  the  other  of  nuns,  in  neigh- 
bouring buildings,  worshipping  in  one  church,  all 
under  the  rule  of  an  abbess. 

About  630,  King  Eadbald  founded  at  Folkestone 
a  double  monastery,  after  the  pattern  of  these  French 
houses,  for  his  daughter  Eanswitha,  who  became  its 
first  abbess.     It  was  the  first  nunnery  in  England. 

When  Ethelburga  arrived  a  fugitive  from  Northum- 
berland, the  King  provided  for  his  widowed  sister  by 


188  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

the  gift  of  the  royal  residence  and  estate  at  Lyminge ; 
which  Ethelburga  turned  into  another  of  these  double 
monasteries,  of  which  she  retained  the  rule.  The 
domestic  buildings  were  probably  of  timber,  but  the 
church,  probably  of  stone,  was  planned  on  so  large  a 
scale,  that  it  was  only  half  built  at  the  time  of  her 
death,  10th  September,  647  A.D.,  and  its  completion 
was  abandoned. 

When  Oswald,  of  the  rival  royal  house  of  Nor- 
thumbria,  defeated  Caedwalla,  and  mounted  the  throne 
in  635  A.D.,  Ethelburga,  fearing  that  he  might  seek  to 
extinguish  the  claims  of  Edwin's  heir  by  his  death, 
sent  the  boy  Yffi,  the  son  of  Osfrith,  together  with 
her  own  boy  Wuscfrea,  to  France,  to  the  care  of  her 
uncle,  King  Dagobert;  there  both  the  children  died 
in  infancy.  Her  daughter  Eanflaeda  was  brought 
up  in  the  nunnery  at  Lyminge;  and  at  length  the 
rivalry  between  the  two  houses  was  reconciled  by  the 
marriage  of  Eanflgeda  to  Oswy,  the  younger  brother 
and  successor  of  Oswald.  Once  more  we  have  the 
incident  of  a  royal  bride  going  from  Kent  to  Nortli- 
umbria,  under  the  care  of  the  priest  Eomanus  as 
her  chaplain ;  not  because  Oswy  was  a  pagan,  for 
he  was  a  saintly  Christian  man,  not  necessarily 
because  Oswy  was  of  the  Celtic  school,  though,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  Eomanus  maintained  the  Kentish 
customs  in  the  Queen's  household,  but  because,  as  has 
been  before  explained,  it  belonged  to  the  dignity  of 
a  Queen  to  have  her  own  chaplain. 

The  Kentish  Church,  disheartened  perhaps  by 
repeated  failures,  seems  to  have  abandoned  the 
attempt  to  plant  churches  in  the  other  kingdoms, 
and   to  have  limited  its   labours  to  its  own  people. 


THE  KENTISH  MONASTERIES  189 

We  shall  shortly  find  reason  to  think  that  it  found 
occupation  enough  within  those  limits,  and  had  not 
men  to  spare  of  the  character  required  for  foreign 
adventures.  But  the  Church  was  being  rapidly- 
planted  in  the  other  kingdoms  by  other  agencies. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  present  volume  to 
enter  into  the  details  of  the  conversion  of  the  other 
kingdoms,  but,  standing  in  Kent,  the  news  comes  to 
us  of  King  Oswald's  invitation  to  the  fathers  of  lona 
to  undertake  the  evangelisation  of  Northumbria,  and 
the  mission  of  Aidan  in  635  ;  of  the  coming  of 
the  Italian  Birinus  to  the  West  Saxons ;  and  of  the 
baptism  of  King  Cynegils  in  the  following  year. 

In  640  A.D.,  King  Eadbald  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Earconbert.  He  had  two  sons,  Eormenred 
and  Earconbert;  why  the  eldest  son  did  not  succeed 
his  father  we  are  not  told ;  the  natural  conjecture  is 
that  he  died  before  him ;  but  he  was  married  and 
left  a  daughter,  who  founded  a  double  monastery 
(minster)  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  and  her  daughter, 
St.  Mildred,  abbess  of  the  monastery,  became  one  of 
the  popular  saints  of  the  Kentish  Church. 

The  new  King  married  Sexburh,  daughter  of  Anna, 
King  of  the  East  Angles,  a  family  illustrious  in  the 
annals  of  the  Church.  For  King  Anna  had  four 
daughters,  this  Sexburh,  who  founded  a  minster  in  the 
Isle  of  Sheppey,  and  retired  to  it  on  her  widowhood ; 
Etheldreda,  who  founded  Ely  ;  Ethelberga,  who  retired 
to  the  Monastery  of  Brie  and  became  its  abbess ;  and 
Withberga,  who  passed  her  life  in  religious  retirement 
at  East  Deorham,  in  her  own  country.  Nor  were 
these  all  who  deserve  mention  here.  Ethelhere,  who 
succeeded     his    brother    Anna    on    the    throne,    had 


190  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

married  another  devout  princess,  Hereswith,  of  the 
family  of  Edwin  of  Northumbria,  who  ended  her  life 
as  a  nun  at  Chelles ;  and  Hilda,  her  sister,  was  the 
famous  Abbess  of  Whitby.  King  Aldwulf,  the  son  of 
Ethelhere  and  Hereswith,  had  three  daughters :  Ead- 
burh  became  Abbess  of  Eepton,  and  Ethelburga  and 
Hweelburga  successively  Abbesses  of  Hackness.  The 
daughter  of  Earconbert  and  Sexburh  was  also  a  nun 
at  Brie,  and  had  a  great  reputation  for  holiness. 

Of  King  Earconbert  we  are  told  that  he  was 
the  first  of  the  English  kings  who,  by  his  supreme 
authority,  commanded  that  the  idols  throughout  liis 
whole  kingdom  should  be  forsaken  and  destroyed ; 
and  that  the  fast  of  forty  days  before  Easter  should 
be  observed ;  and  appointed  proper  and  suitable 
punishments  for  the  offenders  against  these  laws. 
The  first  of  these  edicts  reveals  the  fact  that  the  old 
religion,  its  idols  and  its  worship,  still  lingered  in 
Kent  forty  years  after  the  conversion;  but  that  the 
general  sentiment  of  the  people  was  against  the 
adherents  of  the  old  paganism. 

Four  years  (644  a.d.)  after  the  accession  of  Ear- 
conbert, Paulinus  died,  after  nineteen  years'  occupation 
of  the  See  of  Eochester.  When  we  call  to  mind  that 
it  is  now  nearly  half  a  century  since  the  band  of 
Italian  missionaries  set  out  from  their  monastery,  we 
recognise  that  the  elders  of  the  band  must  before  this 
have  been  lying  in  the  cloisters  of  Christ  Church  or 
of  St.  Augustine's,  in  their  last  sleep,  and  that  the 
youngest  of  them  must  have  become  old  men. 
Honorius  was  probably  one  of  the  youngest  of  the 
band,  and  one  of  its  last  survivors.  But  there  were 
Kentish  men  who  had  been  educated  in  the  schools 


THE  KENTISH  MONASTERIES  191 

of  Canterbury,  of  whom  some  had  been  trained  at 
Christ  Church  to  be  priests,  and  others  had  joined 
the  monastic  community  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  and 
still  others  had  been  drafted  off  to  the  new  establish- 
ments at  Dover,  Folkestone,  and  Lyminge. 

In  the  year  653,  two  young  Northumbrians  of 
noble  birth,  and  destined  to  a  great  future,  spent 
some  time  in  Kent.  Wilfrid  came  with  letters  of 
commendation  from  Queen  Eanflaeda  to  her  brother, 
King  Earconbert,  desirous  of  finding  an  opportunity 
of  going  to  Eome,  and  remained  about  a  year. 
Under  what  auspices  Benedict  Biscop  came  we  do 
not  know,  but  he  also  was  bound  for  Kome ;  the  two 
young  men  set  out  from  Kent  in  the  following  year. 
Wilfrid  was  afterwards  Bishop  of  York,  and  Benedict 
the  founder  of  the  Monasteries  of  Wearmouth  and 
Jarrow. 

It  is  a  striking  evidence  of  the  fine  natural  qualities 
of  the  English  race  at  that  period,  that  both  here  in 
Canterbury  and  in  northern  Lindisfarne,  in  the  very 
first  generation  of  their  conversion,  the  pupils  of  the 
Italian  and  Celtic  teachers  were,  by  learning  and 
character,  qualified  to  fill  the  highest  dignities  of  the 
Church. 

Ithamar,  a  man  of  Kentish  race,  was  chosen  to 
succeed  Paulinus  at  Eochester,  and  was  the  first 
Englishman  who  was  consecrated  (by  Honorius)  to  be 
a  bishop  (644  A.D.}-;  and  Bede  bears  testimony  to 
him  that  "he  was  not  inferior  to  his  predecessors 
for  learning  and  conduct  of  life." 

Honorius  lived  just  long  enough  to  hear  of  the 
planting  of  the  Church  (in  653  a.d.)  in  two  other  of 
the  English  kingdoms,  Mercia  and  Essex  ;  and  while  he 


192  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

rejoiced  at  the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom,  it  could 
hardly  have  been  without  a  feeling  of  regret  that 
the  honour  had  fallen  to  the  Celtic  Church  of  Nor- 
thumbria  and  not  to  his  own  countrymen.  Peada, 
the  son  of  the  fierce  old  heathen  Penda,  King  of 
Mercia,  who  was  now  sub-King  of  the  Middle  Angles, 
went  to  the  court  of  Oswy  of  Northumbria,  to  ask  his 
daughter  EtheWeda  in  marriage.  The  two  families 
were  already  allied,  for  King  Oswy's  son  Alfred  was 
married  to  Cyneberga,  the  daughter  of  King  Penda, 
and  sister  of  Peada.  Again  we  have  a  repetition  of 
the  familiar  story,  that  the  Christian  house  of  Nor- 
thumbria objected  to  give  its  daughter  in  marriage  to 
a  heathen.  Peada  gave  a  ready  ear  to  the  Christian 
teachers,  and  "  when  he  heard  the  preaching  of  the 
truth,  the  promise  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  and  the 
hope  of  resurrection  and  immortality,  he  declared 
that  he  would  willingly  become  a  Christian,  even 
though  he  should  be  refused  the  princess.  So  he  was 
baptized,  with  all  his  earls  and  soldiers  and  their 
servants,  who  had  come  with  him  ";  and  on  his  return 
he  took  back  Chadd  and  three  other  English  priests, 
who  established  the  faith  among  the  subjects  of  Peada. 
In  the  same  year,  Sigebert,  King  of  the  East  Saxons, 
had  paid  a  visit  to  the  court  of  Oswy,  and,  chiefly  by 
the  reasonings  of  Oswy  on  the  folly  of  idolatry,  Sige- 
bert and  those  who  had  come  with  him  to  Northum- 
bria were  converted  and  baptized.  On  his  return,  he 
took  back  Cedd,  the  brother  of  the  Chadd  just  men- 
tioned, and  another  priest,  who  set  up  their  centres  of 
teaching  at  Tilaburg  (East  Tilbury),  on  the  Thames, 
and  at  Ythanacester  (Bradwell-on-Sea),  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Pant,  and  thence  converted  the  East  Saxons. 


THE  KENTISH  MONASTERIES  193 

Bishop  Honorius  died  in  that  same  year,  654  A.D., 
and  there  was  a  vacancy  of  eighteen  months  before 
the  See  was  filled.  We  can  only  conjecture  the  cause. 
Had  Paulinus  been  still  alive,  he  would  doubtless  have 
stepped  into  the  vacant  chair.  Eomanus  the  priest 
was  in  Northumbria,  and  could  not  be  taken  away 
from  his  position  beside  the  Queen;  moreover,  with 
the  help  of  James  the  Deacon,  he  was  doing  what 
would  seem,  both  at  Canterbury  and  at  Eome,  the 
important  work  of  representing  the  Eoman  traditions 
in  the  north.  We  must  suppose  that  there  were  none 
left  of  the  Italian  missionaries,  or  at  least  none  quali- 
fied to  keep  up  the  succession.  It  seems  likely  that 
King  Earconbert  and  Bishop  Ithamar,  in  their  here- 
ditary deference  to  the  mother  Church,  referred  to 
Eome,  perhaps  to  have  a  man  sent  to  them,  at  least 
for  instructions  how  to  proceed ;  that  they  were  told 
to  choose  the  worthiest  of  their  native  priests,  and 
that  Ithamar  received  authority  to  consecrate  him. 
He  who  was  chosen  was  by  race  a  West  Saxon,  but 
we  assume  that  he  had  been  educated  and  ordained  in 
Kent.  His  name  was  Frithonas,  but  had  assumed — 
or  perhaps  now  assumed — the  name  of  Deusdedit,  and 
he  was  consecrated,  the  first  native  Bishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 26th  March,  655  a.d.  The  importance  of  the 
event  is  self-evident:  it  was  the  withdrawal,  as  no 
longer  needed,  of  the  leading-strings  of  Eome  from  the 
mission  it  had  sent  forth  sixty  years  before,  and 
watched  over  ever  since,  and  the  committal  of  the 
Church  of  Kent  to  its  own  resources. 

We  know  nothing  certain  of  the  details  of  the  nine 
years  of  this  episcopate ;  but  we  gather  that  Ithamar 
died  early  in  it,  and  Deusdedit  consecrated  Damian  to 
^3 


194  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

succeed  him,  by  race  a  South  Saxon,  a  nation  not 
yet  converted  to  the  faith,  so  that  we  conclude  him 
to  have  been  one  of  the  clergy  of  the  Kentish 
Church. 

In  the  time  of  Deusdedit  a  new  minster  was  founded 
in  the  Isle  of  Thanet.  The  legend  connected  with 
it  is  that  when  Earconbert  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
Kent,  it  was  at  the  expense  of  the  two  infant  sons  of 
his  elder  brother  Eormenred,  and  that,  to  make  his 
seat  secure,  Thunor,  one  of  his  thanes,  with  his  con- 
nivance, murdered  the  hapless  children.  When  Egbert 
succeeded  to  the  throne,  he  made  atonement  for  his 
father's  sin  to  Mildred,  the  sister  of  the  slain  boys,  by 
granting  her  as  much  land  in  Thanet  as  a  hind  could 
run  round  in  a  day.  Mildred  had  been  sent  to  Chelles 
for  education ;  the  wicked  abbess  tried  to  persecute 
the  princess  into  marrying  one  of  her  relatives ;  her 
mother  Eormenburga  sent  ships  to  bring  her  home  ; 
the  stone  on  which  she  first  stepped  in  landing  at 
Ebbe's  Fleet  bore — it  was  said — the  impress  of  her  foot, 
and  in  after  years  an  oratory  was  built  over  the  sacred 
spot.  Mildred  founded  a  convent  on  the  land  given 
her  by  Egbert,  and,  as  its  abbess,  ruled  a  great  com- 
munity of  seventy  nuns.  St.  Mildred  became  the  most 
popular  of  the  female  saints  of  Kent.  Her  book  of 
the  Gospels  was  a  famous  relic.  It  was  said  that  once 
when  a  man  took  a  false  oath  upon  it  his  eyes  dropped 
out;  no  wonder  it  was  ever  after  in  great  request. 
In  after  years  there  was  a  great  dispute  between  St. 
Mary's  Minster  in  Thanet  and  St.  Augustine's  at  Canter- 
bury, as  to  which  had  the  honour  to  possess  her  bones. 
St.  Mildred  came  of  a  family  of  saints.  Her  elder  sister, 
St.  Mnburga,  founded  a  monastery  at  Wenlock,  and 


THE  KENTISH  MONASTERIES  195 

was  its  first  abbess ;  her  younger  sister,  St.  Milgitha, 
was  a  nun  at  Eastry  in  Kent. 

But  if  little  happened  in  Kent  in  the  episcopate  of 
Deusdedit,  important  events  happened  in  the  north, 
which  had  a  considerable  influence  upon  the  history  of 
the  Church  in  Kent  and  in  all  England. 

The  difference  between  the  Celtic  and  the  Canter- 
bury customs  did  not  much  matter,  so  long  as  the 
Church  of  Kent  followed  one  and  the  Church  of 
Northumbria  the  other ;  but  they  did  cause  practical 
inconvenience  when  King  Oswy  and  his  men  were 
keeping  the  great  festival  of  Easter,  while  Queen  Ean- 
flffida  and  her  household  were  still  in  the  midst  of  the 
austerities  of  Holy  Week.  It  happened  that  Agilbert, 
a  French  bishop,  who  had  been  ministering  for  some 
years  in  Wessex,  came  on  a  visit  to  the  Northumbrian 
court,  and  Wifrid  returned  from  Eome  about  the  same 
time.  Their  observations  induced  Oswy  to  summon 
a  synod  at  Hilda's  Monastery  of  Whitby,  to  consider 
the  question ;  and  there  the  King  determined  to  adopt 
the  customs  which  he  was  assured  were  universal 
in  Western  Christendom  (664).  Cedd,  Bishop  of  the 
East  Saxons,  was  present  at  the  synod,  and  accepted 
its  decision.  Colman,  the  Bishop  of  Northumbria, 
with  the  Scottish  monks  and  a  largo  company  of  the 
English  monks  of  Lindisfarne,  refused  to  abandon  the 
customs  of  their  spiritual  forefathers,  and  retired  from 
the  kingdom.  Tuda  was  chosen  bishop  in  Colman's 
place.  Thus  the  English  churches  of  the  Celtic  school 
settled  for  themselves  the  question  of  the  customs,  not 
at  the  demand  of  Eome,  and  without  even  asking 
Canterbury  to  assist  at  the  decision. 


CHAPTEE   XXVI 

Archbishop  Theodore 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  664  a.d.  occurred  one  of 
those  plagues  which  so  frequently  ravaged  mediaeval 
Europe,  it  was  called  the  Yellow  Pest.  In  the  north 
the  recently-appointed  Tuda,  Bishop  of  the  Northum- 
brians, seems  to  have  been  one  of  its  victims,  and  Cedd, 
Bishop  of  the  East  Saxons,  died  at  his  Monastery  of 
Lestingay.  In  the  south,  Earconbert  the  King  of 
Kent,  and  Deusdedit  the  bishop,  died  on  the  same 
day  (July  14),  and  Damian,  Bishop  of  Eochester, 
probably  died  a  little  before  Deusdedit.  The  plague 
raged  in  Essex,  and  occasioned  the  sub-King  Sigehere, 
and  that  part  of  the  people  whom  he  governed,  to 
apostatise  from  the  faith.^  Egbert  succeeded  his 
father  on  the  throne,  and  the  episcopal  See  remained 
long  vacant.  Wilfrid  had  been  chosen  to  fill  Tuda's 
place  in  Northumbria,  but  must  needs  go  to  France 
for  consecration,  and  stay  there  so  long  that  Chadd  was 
appointed  over  his  head.  Chadd  came  to  Kent  to  seek 
consecration  (664  A.D.),  and  found  when  he  arrived 
there  that  the  bishop  was  dead,  and  that  there  was 
no  prospect  of  a  speedy  appointment  to  the  vacancy ; 
he   therefore   went   thence   to  Wini^  at  Winchester, 

^  Bede,  Ecd.  Hist.  iii.  30. 

2  Wini  had  been  ordained  in  Gaul. — Bede,  Ecd.  Hist,  iii.  7. 
I'JG 


ARCHBISHOP  THEODORE  197 

who  consecrated  him,  with  the  assistance  of  "two 
bishops  of  the  British  nation/  who  kept  Easter  after 
the  canonical  manner,  for  at  that  time  there  was  no 
other  bishop  in  all  Britain  canonically  ordained  besides 
this  Wini."  When  Wilfrid  came  back  and  found 
his  See  occupied,  Egbert  invited  him  to  Kent  to 
do  what  was  required  as  bishop  there  during  the 
vacancy. 

The  affairs  of  the  Church  were  in  confusion ;  with  a 
double  appointment  in  Northumbria,  no  bishop  at  all 
in  Kent,  and  the  East  Saxon  See  vacant ;  with  the 
Celtic  customs  still  authorised  in  Mercia,  and  lingering 
in  Northumbria  and  Essex,  and  the  South  Saxons  still 
unconverted.  The  Kings  of  Northumbria  and  Kent 
seem  to  have  consulted  together  on  the  unsatisfactory 
state  of  things.  We  may  with  probability  credit  the 
older  and  more  experienced,  as  well  as  the  more  power- 
ful, Oswy  with  the  proposal  that  they  should  seek  the 
consent  of  the  other  kings  and  churches  to  choose  a 
man  who  would  be  acceptable  to  all,  and  send  him  to 
Eome  to  be  consecrated  there,  and,  on  his  return,  to 
exercise  the  authority  of  an  archbishop  over  all  the 
churches  and  bring  them  into  harmony.  It  was  an 
admirable  scheme,  and,  backed  by  the  influence  of  the 
Bretwalda,  it  met  with  general  acceptance.  Wigheard, 
"  a  good  man  and  fit  priest,"  one  of  Deusdedit's  clergy, 
apparently  not  a  monk,  was  chosen,  and  sent  with 
some  companions  to  Eome.  But  Eome,  half  in  ruins, 
and  with  the  Campagna  falHng  out  of  cultivation,  and 
becoming  the  breeding-place  of  malaria,  was  an  un- 
healthy place,  and  Wigheard,  with  almost  all  his  com- 

1  Bede,  Eccl.  Hist.     Perhaps  the  two  bishops  of  independent  West 
Wales  (Devonshire  and  Cornwall). 


198  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

panions,  died  there  of  pestilence  before  he  could  be 
consecrated,  and  was  buried  at  the  Church  of  the 
Apostle  St.  Peter. 

We  gather  from  a  letter  of  Vitalian,  then  Bishop 
of  Eome,  to  "  Oswy,  King  of  the  Saxons,"  that  those 
who  sent  Wigheard  had  agreed  not  to  incur  the  diffi- 
culties and  delays  of  choosing  another  man  of  their 
own,  but  to  ask  Vitalian  to  choose  a  suitable  man,  and 
consecrate  and  send  him ;  and  VitaUan  says :  "  We 
have  not  been  able  yet  to  find,  considering  the  length 
of  the  journey,  a  man,  docile  and  qualified  in  all 
respects  to  be  a  bishop,  according  to  the  tenor  of  your 
letters.  But  as  soon  as  such  a  proper  person  shall 
be  found,  we  will  send  him  well-instructed  to  your 
country,  that  he  may,  by  word  of  mouth,  and  by 
the  divine  oracles,  with  the  assistance  of  God, 
root  out  all  the  enemy's  tares  throughout  your 
island." 

The  English  kings  had  sent  many  vessels  of  gold 
and  silver  as  presents  to  the  Koman  Bishop ;  he  sends 
back  some  relics  in  return,  of  the  blessed  Apostles  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul,  of  the  holy  martyrs  Laurentius, 
John  and  Paul,  Gregory  and  Pancratius.  Some  of 
these  relics  would  have  had  a  special  interest  for  the 
disciples  of  the  Italian  missionaries  in  Kent ;  we  have 
seen  that  they  dedicated  one  of  their  churches  in 
Canterbury  to  St.  Pancras  and  for  what  reason,  the 
Church  of  SS.  John  and  Paul,  built  over  the  place 
of  their  martyrdom,  was  also  on  the  Caelian  Hill. 
Vitalian  possibly  supposes  that  the  Northumbrians 
have  inherited  the  traditions  of  Canterbury.  The 
Bishop  also  sends  a  present  to  the  Queen,  a  cross, 
with  a  gold  key,  made  out  of  the  chains  of  St.  Peter 


ARCHBISHOP  THEODORE  199 

and  St.  Paul — that  is  to  say,  the  key  had  some  par- 
ticles of  the  chains  incorporated  into  it. 

Vitalian  made  diligent  inquiry  for  some  one  to  send 
to  be  Archbishop  of  the  English  churches,  and  did 
not  find  one  without  some  trouble.  The  first  man 
whom  he  fixed  upon  was  Hadrian,  Abbot  of  the 
Niridian  Monastery,  not  far  from  Naples,  an  African 
by  nation,  well  versed  in  Holy  Scripture,  experienced 
in  ecclesiastical  and  monastic  discipline,  and  excellently 
skilled  both  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues.  Vitalian 
sent  for  him,  and  bade  him  accept  the  episcopate  and 
go  to  Britain.  Hadrian,  however,  excused  himself,  as 
being  unwortliy  of  so  great  a  dignity,  and  suggested 
another,  whose  age  and  learning  were  fitter  for  the 
episcopal  office,  from  which  we  infer  that  Hadrian 
was  comparatively  a  young  man.  The  substitute 
whom  he  named  was  a  monk  named  Andrew,  belong- 
ing to  a  neighbouring  monastery  of  virgins.  He  was 
judged  worthy  of  a  bishopric  by  all  who  knew  him, 
but  bodily  infirmity  made  him  unequal  to  the  hard 
ships  of  the  journey  to  Britain  and  the  labours  of  the 
work  there.  Then  Vitalian  fell  back  upon  Hadrian, 
who  again  asked  time  to  find  a  substitute. 

There  was  at  that  time  in  Eome  a  monk  called 
Theodore,  a  native  of  St.  Paul's  birthplace.  Tarsus  in 
Cilicia.  He  had  lately  come  to  Kome  in  the  train  of 
the  Emperor  Cons  tans  ii.,  whose  orthodoxy  was  very 
doubtful,  and  his  tyranny  beyond  all  doubt.  Theodore 
was  a  man  of  learning  in  both  secular  and  divine 
literature,  and  in  both  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages ; 
of  known  probity  of  life,  and  venerable  for  his  age, 
for  he  was  sixty-six  years  old.  Hadrian  knew  him 
well,  and  proposed  him  to  Vitalian  for  the  English 


200  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

bishopric.  But  Vitalian  hesitated.  Greek  ecclesiastics 
were  not  in  favour  at  Eome ;  and  one  who  had  been 
in  the  train  of  the  Emperor  was  specially  open  to 
suspicion. 

Hadrian  answered  for  him,  and  Vitalian  finally 
agreed  to  accept  him,  on  condition  that  Hadrian  would 
accompany  him  with  some  of  his  monks,  and  take  care 
that  he  did  not,  "according  to  the  custom  of  the 
Greeks,"  introduce  into  the  Church  over  which  he 
presided  anythiag  contrary  to  the  true  faith. 

Theodore  turned  out  to  be  a  man  of  great  energy, 
sound  judgment,  and  firm  will.  He  united  the 
English  churches  into  a  province,  over  which  he 
ruled  as  Metropolitan  (in  all)  for  one  and  twenty 
years. 

With  Theodore  begins  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  the  history  of  the  Italian 
mission  reaches  its  conclusion. 

Such  is  the  Story  of  Augustine  and  the  Italian 
Mission.  When  we  look  back  upon  it,  and  try  to 
grasp  it  as  a  whole,  and  to  estimate  the  men  and  their 
work,  we  are  driven  to  some  judgments  which  we 
shrink  from  pronouncing.  Gregory's  enterprise  was 
a  noble  one,  undertaken  in  the  sincerest  spirit  of  zeal 
for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  of  philanthropic  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  an  interesting  people.  It  was  planned 
on  a  grand  scale,  for  Gregory  sent  the  flower  of  his 
own  cherished  convent,  at  his  own  cost,  on  this 
crusade,  and  the  result  of  the  work  was  fairly  satis- 
factory for  a  time,  and  that  time  is  very  clearly 
defined.  The  events  which  followed  inmiediately  upon 
Ethelbert's  death  reveal,  beyond  the  possibility  of 
mistake,  that  much  of  the  previous  success  had  been 


ARCHBISHOP  THEODORE  201 

due  to  the  influence  of  Ethelbert,  rather  than  to  the 
initiative  of  Augustine.  It  was  Ethelbert's  diplomacy 
which  obtained  the  interview  between  Augustine  and 
the  British  bishops;  the  British  bishops  were  not 
indisposed  to  welcome  a  renewal  of  relations  with 
the  Church  of  Western  Christendom,  and  even  to 
accept  Augustine  as  the  link  of  the  new  relation ;  and 
it  was  Augustine's  fault  that  the  hopeful  negotiation 
failed.  It  was  Ethelbert's  political  influence  which 
secured  the  establishment  of  new  centres  at  Eochester 
and  London;  but,  on  the  cessation  of  that  political 
support,  the  Bishops  of  Eochester  and  London  had  not 
obtained  sufficient  influence  to  secure  even  the  tolera- 
tion of  their  own  presence.  Even  in  Kent,  the  death 
of  Ethelbert  was  followed  by  a  reaction  against 
Christianity  so  formidable,  that  Laurentius  contem- 
plated the  abandonment  of  his  post. 

The  impression  left  on  the  mind  by  a  consideration 
of  his  share  in  the  history  is,  that  Augustine  was  a 
pious,  good  man,  possessed  with  a  strong  feeling  of 
affectionate  and  reverent  loyalty  to  his  illustrious 
Abbot  and  Bishop ;  and  that  Gregory  had  found  in  him 
a  prior  on  whom  he  could  entirely  rely  to  maintain 
the  daily  routine  and  discipline  of  the  convent,  and 
to  carry  out  his  own  directions;  but  we  are  driven 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  capable  and  trustworthy 
lieutenant  did  not  possess  the  self-reliance,  force  of 
character,  constructive  power,  and  influence  over  other 
men,  which  make  a  great  leader. 

Every  man  is  not  a  born  genius — not  to  go  be- 
yond the  scope  of  the  present  history — like  Gregory 
or  like  Theodore ;  all  that  the  rest  of  us  can  do  is 
to  give  our  best  to  God,  as  Augustine  seems  to  have 


202  AUGUSTINE  OF  CANTERBURY 

done.  He  had  weaknesses  and  made  mistakes — who 
is  free  from  them  ?  After  all,  he  was  the  first  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  English ;  and  the  results 
of  his  work  have  lived  to  this  day,  and  will  live ; 
and  his  name  will  be  held  in  deserved  honour  so 
long  as  the  history  of  the  English  race  shall  last. 

After  the  death  of  Ethelbert,  there  is  no  indication 
of  any  further  attempt  to  extend  the  gospel  into  the 
other  English  kingdoms — the  mission  of  Paulinus  to 
Northumbria  in  the  suite  of  Ethelburga  was  hardly 
an  exception.  All  the  later  bishops  seem  to  have 
abandoned  the  hope  of  carrying  out  Gregory's  great 
plans  for  the  evangelisation  and  the  ecclesiastical 
organisation  of  the  English,  and  to  have  resigned 
themselves  to  the  position  of  Bishops  of  Kent. 

When  we  consider  the  relations  between  Eome 
and  the  English  mission,  we  seem  to  see  that  Augus- 
tine and  his  successors  of  the  Italian  line  regarded 
their  Church  as  holding  a  position  of  special  depend- 
ence upon  Eome ;  they  kept  up  an  occasional  corre- 
spondence with  Eome,  and  sought  the  advice  and 
sanction  of  its  Bishop  at  special  crises.  On  the  other 
hand,  after  the  death  of  Gregory,  the  mission  was  not 
very  earnestly  backed  up  from  Eome.  Its  Bishops 
accepted  the  deference  paid  to  them ;  they  did  what 
was  asked  of  them,  which  was  usually  to  give  their 
sanction  to  some  foregone  conclusion  about  the  suc- 
cession or  consecration  of  the  English  bishops  ;  and 
they  took  these  opportunities  to  send  complimentary 
letters  to  princes  and  bishops.  But  they  left  the 
mission  entirely  to  its  own  resources  —  with  the 
solitary  exception  that,  when  Birinus  was  seeking  a 
sphere   of    missionary  work,  Honorius    recommended 


ARCHBISHOP  THEODORE  203 

him  to  go  to  Britain,  and  preach  in  some  part  of  it 
yet  untouched. 

In  fine,  the  work  of  the  Italian  mission  survived 
in  Kent  only ;  we  may  include  Ithamar,  Damian, 
and  Deusdedit  as  belonging  to  it.  With  the  death 
of  Deusdedit,  the  Italian  succession  comes  to  an  end. 
The  consecration  of  Theodore,  with  the  consent  of 
all  the  princes  and  churches  of  the  Heptarchy, 
is  the  beginning  of  a  new  era.  He  united  all  the 
Heptarchic  Churches  into  one  ecclesiastical  province, 
with  Canterbury  for  its  Metropolis ;  he  was  the  first 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  for  Bede  is  witness  that 
he  was  "  the  first  Archbishop  whom  all  the  English 
Church  obeyed."  ^ 

1  Bede,  Ecd.  Hist.  iv.  2. 


INDEX 


Alaric,  his  sack  of  Rome,  2 

Aqiiileia,  not  in  communion  witlx 
Eome  for  150  years,  6 

Augustine,  Prior  of  St.  Andrew's, 
19 ;  sent  on  the  English  mis- 
sion, 19;  returns  from  Marseilles, 
29  ;  fresh  start,  with  authority 
as  abbot,  21  ;  journey  through 
France,    33-40  ;    received    by 
Ethelbert,    47 ;  enters  Canter 
bury,      48 ;     restores      Christ 
Church,  79  ;  his  miracles,  101 
founds  the  Monastery  of  SS, 
Peter  and  Paul,  117  ;  negoti 
ates  with  the  British  bishops 
126 ;    extends   the   Church  to 
Rochester  and   London,    152 
consecrates   Laurentius  as  his 
successor,  153  ;  his  death,  153 
his  character,  201 

"Augustine's    Oak,"    synod    at, 
131,  140 

Banoor,  British  monastery  at,  144 
Belisarius,    his    re-conquest    of 

Italy,  3 
Benedict  Biscop,  191 
Bertha,  Queen,  46,  62 

,  Gregory's  letters  to,  63 

Bishops,    position  of,  under  the 

Barbarian    conquerors    of   the 

Empire,  9 
of  Rome,  their  position  in  the 

sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  11 
Books  brought  by  Augustine  and 

sent  to  him  by  Gregory,  107 


Bretwalda,  meaning  of,  43 
Brunhilda,       Queen,      Gregory's 
letters  to,  35,  91 

CiSDWALLA  defeats  Edwin  and 
conquers  Northumbria,  182 

Candidus,  agent  of  the  patrimony 
at  Marseilles,  17,  26,  34 

Celtic  Church  customs,  132-137 

Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  79-83 

Church  of  the  Four  Crowned 
Martyi's  at  Canterbury,  161 

Churches  of  the  Roman  Britons 
in  Kent,  56,  79,  114-116 

Columbanus,  155 

Crypts  of  Christ  Church,  Canter- 
bury, Ripon,  and  Hexham,  82 

Damian,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  193 
Deusdedit,  Bishop  of  Canterbury, 

193  ;  his  death,  196 
"  Dooms  "  of  Ethelbort,  125 

Eadbald,  King  of  Kent,  opposes 
Laurentius,  158 ;  his  conver- 
sion, 160 ;  founds  Church  of  St. 
Mary,  162  ;  founds  monastery 
at  Dover,  185  ;  at  Folkestone, 
187  ;  his  death,  189 

Eanflffida,  172 

Earconbert,  King  of  Kent,  189  ; 
puts  do^vn  the  old  idolatry, 
190  ;  his  death,  196 

Ebbe's  Fleet,  39 

Edwin,  King  of  Northumbria,  his 
history,  169,  181 ;  conversion, 


206 


INDEX 


175  ;   power    and    state,    181  ; 

death,  182 
Egbert,  King  of  Kent,  196 
Ethelbert  of  Kent,   44  ;  receives 

Augustine  in  Thanet,  46,  54  ; 

Gregory's  letter  to,    103 ;   his 

second     marriage,     158  ;     his 

death,  157  ;  his  character,  157 
Ethelburga    married    to    Edwin, 

King    of    North umbria,     163  ; 

Boniface's  letter  to  her,  165  ; 

returns  to  Kent,  183 

Felix,  the  Burgundian,  first 
Bishop  of  East  Anglia,  186 

Forum,  story  of  the  English  slave 
children  in,  15 

Gensekic,  his  sack  of  Eome,  2 
Gregory  the  Great,  his  parentage, 
7  ;  prfetor  of  Rome,  7  ;  built 
monastery  in  Rome,  7 ;  sent 
as  the  bishop's  agent  to  Con- 
stantinople, 8  ;  elected  bishop, 
11  ,  liis  character,  12  ;  writings, 
12 ;  likeness,  13  ;  interview 
with  the  English  slave  children 
in  the  Forum,  16  ;  starts  on  a 
mission  to  England,  17  ;  com- 
pelled to  return,  17  ;  sends 
Augustine  and  his  monks,  19  ; 
his  letters,  20,  30,  83-38  ;  to 
Augustine,  66-75 

HoNORius,one  of  the  boy -pupils  of 
Gregory,  consecrated  at  Lincoln 
as  Bishop  of  Canterbury,  179  ; 
his  death,  193 

Ithamar  succeeds  Paulinus  at 
Rochester,  191 

James  the  Deacon,  164,  183 
Justus  sent  to  England,  87  ;  con- 
secrated Bishop  of  Rochester, 
147 ;  flees  to  the  Continent, 
159 ;  succeeds  Mellitus  at 
Canterbury,  162  ;  receives  the 
pall,  162 

Kent,  kingdom  of,  41,  50-54 


Laurentiits  the  Priest,  accom- 
panies Augustine  to  England, 
32 ;  sent  with  letters  to  Gregory, 
61,  63  ;  sent  again  to  Rome, 
87  ;  consecrated  Bishop  of 
Canterbury,  153  ;  his  letter  to 
the  bishops  of  Ireland,  154  ; 
and  of  Britain,  156  ;  about  to 
flee  from  Kent,  159  ;  his  death, 
161 

Liudhard,  Bishop,  46,  72 

Lombards,  their  conquests  in 
Italy,  3 

London,  foundation  of  the  See  at, 
147 

Mellitus,  Abbot,  sent  by  Gregory 
to  England,  87 ;  consecrated 
Bishop  of  the  East  Saxons,  147  ; 
sent  to  Rome,  156  ;  flees  to  the 
Continent,  159  ;  returns  to 
Canterbury,  160  ;  succeeds 
Lauren  tius  there,  161  ;  his 
death,  162 

Mildred,  Abbess,  194 

Minster  in  Thanet,  foundation  of, 
194 

Sheppey,  foundation  of,  189 

Miracles  of  Augustine,  101,  138; 
Gregory's  letter  on  them,  101 

Monastery,  British,  at  Bangor, 
144 

Monastery  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul, 
117-123 

Monasteries  in  Kent — St.  Augus- 
tine's, Canterbury,  117  ;  Dover, 
185  ;  Folkestone,  187  ;  Ly- 
minge,188;  Minster  in  Sheppey, 
189  ;  Minster  in  Thanet,  194 

NoRTHUMBRiA,  its  condition, 
163 ;  Paulimis's  mission  to, 
163  ;  meeting  of  the  Witan,  173 

Pall,  the,  granted  to  Augustine, 

91  ;  history  of,  94-100 
Patrician,  meaning  of  the  title,  36 
Paulinus  sent  to  England,  87 ; 
consecrated  bishop  and  sent  to 
Northumbria,  164  ;  converts 
King  Edwin,  175 ;  his  missionary 


INDEX 


207 


work,  177  ;  builds  cliiirches  at 
Doncaster  and  Lincoln,  178  ; 
work  at  Southwell,  180 ;  liis 
personal  appearance,  180  ;  flight 
to  Canterbury,  183  ;  receives  tlie 
pall,  185  ;  succeeds  Romanus  at 
Rochester,  184 ;  his  death,  190 

Redwald,    King    of    the    East 

Angles,  converted,  150 
Ricimer,  his  plunder  of  Rome,  3 
Rochester,  foundation  of  the  See 

of,  147 
Romanus,  consecrated  Bishop  of 

Rochester,  162  ;  drowned  on  a 

voyage  to  Rome,  184 
Rome,  condition  of,  in  the  sixth 

century,  4 
,   Bishops   of,    obtain    inde- 
pendent sovereignty,  3 
,   Church  of,    its    condition 

in  the  sixth  century,  3 
Royal  abbesses  and  nuns,  187,  189 
Rufinianus  sent  to  England,  87 
Rutupise,  39 


Sebekt,  King  of  the  East  Saxons, 

148 
Sigebert,    King  of  East  Anglia, 

introduces   the   Church   there, 

186 
Stephen,  Abbot  of  Lerins,  33 
St.  Martin's  Church,  Canterbury, 

56 
Syagrius,  Bishop  of  Autun,  38,  75 

Temples,  heathen,  in  Kent,  77, 

111-113 
Theodebert   of   Austrasia,    Greg- 
ory's letters  to,  34 
Theodore,  Archbishop,  199 
Theodoric,  his  conquest  of  Italy,  3 
of  Austrasia,  Gregory's  let- 
ter to,  34-40 

ViRGiLitrs    of   Aries,    Gregory's 
letters  to,  22,  74 

Wilfrid  of  York,  191 

York  Minster,  175 


■^ 


'  (^ 


SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRABYFACjU^^ 


A    000  752  311     1 


